Rewind Redeux
by Sin of the Fallen
Summary: You've all seen the stories where Naruto and Company or Kagome reincarnate into someone new. Or when one of them goes back in time to prevent the future from occuring? What would happen if both were to occur at the same time? A Dabbles Series.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: The Prologue: Down the Rabbit Hole

A/N: Hiya! This is my first posting on here! Let's get going shall we?

Sesshomaru looked down at the innocent looking, but terrifyingly destructive little pink orb clasped in his claws. They had struggled so much, all for this thing? This hell spawned jewel?

He looked at the cooling corpses of the miko and Naraku. The miko had purposefully damaged her soul in order to achieve the power needed to end the murderous spider's life. And all he was able to do for the one who had saved the one like a pup to him and restored his arm, was to call back the fragment of her soul that had sustained the treacherous dark miko Kikyo.

In all honesty he had thought the final battle would have been fought with his half-brother and himself weakening the hanyo unto death with the miko striking the killing blow.

It couldn't have been more untrue. Surprisingly it had boiled down to a one-on-one combat to the death. How it had gone, Sesshomaru had no idea except for the near-apocalyptic devastation the two had caused. The only thing that seemed to have escaped the clashing titans' duel was the Well in the center of the clearing. Sesshomaru picked up her weapons that laid where they had fallen in her death, Rebellion, Renegade, and Rejection. He thought to herself ' Hnn. I had not expected her to take to her chosen weapons so well. The time she spent in her time served her well. Kagome died well. ' He resolved to host a proper funeral for his… friend at the Western Palace as soon as he finished his inspection.

After he finished picking up her beloved weapons, Sesshomaru noticed something eerily disturbing to the Taiyoukai.

Grasping Tensaiga by it's hilt brought into focus Hell's minions who were subduing Naraku's soul for transport, but not a one even glanced at the miko's body. It was like her body had never housed her soul for all the regard the servants of Hell gave it. Sesshomaru felt a shiver go down his unyielding spine at the unnatural occurance. Quickly shaking it off, he strode to the Well. His half-brother would be arriving soon and InuYasha would undoubtedly use the Shikon to bring back the foul undead one. He would need to be long gone by then.

Glancing down the Well to look for a hint or a sign to how the battle had gone –perhaps some dead minion of Naraku? – in order to tell her pack what had occurred, Sesshomaru felt something knock him off balance. Sesshomaru was sufficiently startled enough to release the Shikon in order to draw Dokusaiga, by the mysterious force. He felt his eyes widen as the realization hit him. He had dropped the Shikon no Tama into the Bone Eaters' Well. A Well known for it's ability to screw with time and space. And a wish-granting jewel with a penchant for causing disastrous misery to follow in it's wake like a lost pup.

With a brilliant flare of blue light instead of the usual purple-pink, the Shikon no Tama vanished from the world.

To be precise it disappeared from _this_ world.

With the precious cargo of Kagome's soul, in it's grasping clutches.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter One: Bejeweled Thoughts

A/N: Hey, sorry everyone for not getting this up sooner but school is evil! So many tests and ye gods the homework(shudders). Onwards to the story! WARNING! Like the prologue this chapter is going to focus around one person, The Shikon itself! In fact the entire story is likely to follow the same path.

If a jewel could look like it was pouting, then the Shikon would be taking home the trophy in a pout-a-ton. After escaping the stoic Taiyoukai who had planned to throw the Shikon in an active volcano just to be done with it, the Shikon was now stuck in an unstable and closing dimensional wormhole. The Shikon had obviously not thought farther than escaping Sesshomaru and now it looked like it and Kagome were going to be scattered into ittie bitte pieces across all dimensions.

Now, despite popular opinion, Midoriko was no longer trapped within the Shikon. In fact she had not been inside the insidious bauble for several hundred years, since Kikyo burned the Shikon with her body. The purifying flames wore down the Shikon enough to be unable to prevent Midoriko's flight from her prison. Otherwise it would have been nowhere near as easy for Naraku to corrupt the Shikon if the ancient miko had still resided within. Therefore without the ongoing battle between itself and Midoriko, the Shikon became aware to a limited degree. And that limited awareness had no wish to be unraveled beyond it's molecular components.

Though it hated to think that it would also be saving the Tyrant, it knew it had no real choice in this urgent matter. Kagome had managed to cannibalize much of the soul that made up the Shikon's power. Limiting the Shikon to just slightly more powerful than a minor God instead of ' able to destroy all of creation to remake it in your own image, powerful. ' The Shikon came back to the present as it registered the fact the portal to this dimension's future tore itself into two separate vortexes. One lead to the place the Tyrant hailed from. The other, newer, one lead to a different reality of this dimension's future and it reeked of sheer, almost demonic, power.

The Shikon considered the choices laid out before it as best it could. Having been exposed to many, many youkai and the sheer presence of Naraku the Shikon gathered as best it could the information relevant to it's present life or death crisis. Many youkai had faced similar decisions while in possession of it; therefore the Shikon felt it knew what to do. The first option of simply returning to the place where the Tyrant was spawned, was safe and well known to it. The second option of journeying to a new, possibly fatal, plane of reality where the power within leaked out across the dimensions seemed like a very stupid choice.

But the youkai who had always chosen the smart, safe option died swiftly. While the youkai that took the seemingly stupid choice lived to fight another day. Therefore it made up it's mind. It started moving, well floating, toward the second vortex and thought to itself 'At least the Tyrant will be forced into more fights. Then there is a better chance she will fail to keep me and we will not stagnate at the very least as we would have if we had returned to the Tyrant's birthplace. '

Well it did not really have the awareness to think so clearly and precisely, but it was thinking along those lines in much simpler lines! After entering the vortex time began to dance across the lines of reality, making it impossible to tell how much time passed since time refused to follow any rules of a linear timeline. Sooner or maybe later, the vortex came to an abrupt end, spitting out the Shikon like a piece of rotten fruit.

The Shikon found itself within a forest of absurdly tall trees. Quickly it cast it's remaining power out like a net to detect any intelligent life since after exiting the strange neither here-there-anywhere realm they had traveled through, Kagome had woken up and was beginning to pound at the Shikon from the inside. Not wanting to be rescattered across this world the Shikon needed to dump Kagome somewhere. So at a quick clip the Shikon headed towards civilization as this world knew it. After about ten minutes, the Shikon had finally gotten past the, still absurdly large, walls and found itself in a deserted alleyway.

As quickly as it could, it reassembled Kagome's body. Despite being about as powerful as a minor God, the Shikon did not handle rush orders well and so screwed up a vital part of the new body. It's age to be precise. Once the Shikon finished the body it injected Kagome's soul into it's new abode, and quickly followed the soul and hid itself within the soul.

The Shikon relaxed and seemed to melt into a puddle of frightened goo, well as much as a non-liquid solid could . The Tyrant might try and finish it's meal afterall, new world or no.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Panicking Lies

A/N: Since I haven't really updated at the rate I wanted to I'm going to update twice in one day! So for all you people reading this is where you shout " Score! " Now just to let my readers know it is going to take awhile to work in the time travel element I have promised. And as a bonus in reviews you guys can chose who, besides Naruto and not Kagome, you want to time travel! And whoever can guess the meaning of Kagome's new surname gets a digital triple chocolate cake and their name in the next chapter! Now I noticed I haven't said my disclaimer yet, but I'm only going to do this once so stupid people out there, get this through your thick skulls.

I DO NOT OWN EITHER NARUTO OR INUYASHA! THEY BELONG TO THEIR CREATORS! Onwards!

Now let it be said that Kagome was a usually unflappable individual. One had to be to survive InuYasha and Sesshomaru's daily clashes along with a dash of Naraku and a sprinkling of Koga. Nothing that happened to her had made her flip out, like a floundering fish fighting to get of the hook, since the first year traveling with everyone. Dealing with Sesshomaru had simply made her patience and tranquility soar as high as a kite in a windstorm.

But knowing you died, and that Tensaiga had _not_ brought you back, plus finding youself lying face down in some filthy road was much too much even for Kagome.

Quickly she pushed herself off the ground and stood up while she began to feel her panic-o-meter register ridiculously dangerous levels of panic. Knowing that the distant feeling of dumbness was the tell tale sign she was in shock, but not caring, Kagome looked around. She was in an absolutely _filthy_ alley, but where said alley was was beyond her limited knowledge. Still numb she exited the alley, skirting the garbage as best she could since she had no shoes. Upon reaching a bigger, cleaner, newer road she was treated to an impressive sight. Four gigantic heads had been carved into a tall mountain, giving the impression the four heads were looking _right at you_. This was the straw that broke the Kagome camel's back and Kagome's eyes rolled back up into her head, collapsing in the middle of the road.

A passing jounin that had been making his nightly patrol through his section of the village, noticed something was in the road that lead to the Western Gate. Suspicious the thing was, so the jounin leapt down from the rooftops and began to amble over. He guessed it was a drunk who had passed out after a night of heavy drinking- something he had _never_ done of course, being a responsible shinobi-, so imagine his surprise to see a four year old girl collapsed in the road.

The jounin felt sweat break out on his forehead, this child could be a trap from anyone with a bone to pick with him, his family, or Konoha. But if the Sandaime found out if he had left a defenseless and possibly sick child out in the cold open of the road, he would be so screwed that a corkscrew would look as straight as a laser beam in comparison. Decisions, decisions….

"Taking the child to the hospital it is.", he muttered. But even if he was going to take a risk, he was going to take unnecessary risks. He fluctuated his charka flow quickly and murmured "Kai." When it revealed there was no discernable genjutsu, he picked up the girl child and began to leg it to the hospital. Once he dropped her off he would go alert the Sandaime, and hopefully that would wash his hands of her once he filed his report.

SHAZAM! LET THERE BE A LINE!

Kagome felt weird. She knew she was lying down on something soft, but could she really be on a soft Western style bed once more? She had died had she not? Needing to know Kagome opened her eyes to find an old man with a small beard, liver spots, twinkling eyes, and a wide brimmed hat with the kanji for fire on it. The man spoke quietly "Hello. My name is Sarutobi Hiruzen and I am the Sandaime Hokage. Now may I know your name young one?" Kagome blinked in confusion at the titles but forced herself to sit up and ask "Where am I?"

Sarutobi frowned at bit but complied "You are in the Hospital in Konoha, Fire Country." Kagome was confused even more, but years of being held hostage worked in her favor for once besides winning friends and influencing allies. "My name is…" She paused. While Kagome wasn't too uncommon for a name, Higurashi was since it was her family name and there might be _different_ Higurashis floating around here somewhere. She would have to pick a different surname and learn it well, and panic intruded for a second at the thought of relinquishing her surname. She thought quickly and a memory fragment intruded.

Pain, pain, pain, GREEN, glass, prison, must hold on, remember who I am!, wake up…!

She shook her head as the last name came to her as if it was truly her last name or one she was intimate with "My name is Arasoi Kagome." Sarutobi could see no hint that this was not her real name. It rolled off her tongue with a natural instead of forced ease. He sighed and began to question the young girl. Where she came from-"Nowhere really. We wandered for a long time, and never stayed anywhere long." Where her family was-"I think they are gone. I do not know where they could be." How old she was-"Um." She visibly used her fingers to count "I am four. I think so anyways, I am not sure what the date is…" Did she have any medical problems-"No clue. Never seen a doctor." And it went on and on for about two hours.

Normally the Sandaime would never personally conduct the interrogation, but this was a newly orphaned child about Naruto's age and maybe he had found the child like a grandson to him a friend. God knew the child wanted one with every fiber of his tiny body.

Concluding the investigation, Sarutobi stood up and said "Arasoi-san I will have one of my shinobi take you to the orphanage after the hospital creates some medical records for you and administers some tests." She nodded with a relived grin, that the formidable old man accepted her meant she would have a place to stay till she could question the Shikon and learn more about this Konoha.

A nurse scuttled in, cowed into submission by the presence of who ordered her paycheck, and began to putter around. She lifted up the board on the foot of the bed where the patient's name had been filled in by Sarutobi himself. "Alright now Arasoi-chan I'll need…"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Unanticipated Savior

A/N: WARNING! There is mention of child neglect and abuse in this chapter! Since this is Naruto it was quite unavoidable with all the angst and stuff going on but it will be over quickly! Do try to actually leave a review. I know at least three hundred people who speak English has read this and I've gotten three reviews! Time's a tickin' lazy bums!

Kagome gave a displeased frown to the orphanage worker whose name she had never bothered to learn. She knew _precisely_ how much money her monthly stipend was, the Hokage himself had explained it to her.

So why was the food, clothing, and accommodation the workers enjoyed so luxurious for what they got paid? It was like they kept getting bonuses every month along with their paycheck. Logically it said they were stealing money from their charges. But she had seen every orphan in this orphanage, it was only the workers who worked here that were fishy, and the kids suffered no lack of things they wanted.

Something smelled rotten, and it was not the greasy man who had his hair in a loose ponytail and wore glasses. Despite looking like an almost exact carbon copy of one of her most hated foes from a different life. It did not help their case that she saw ghosts flittering about that looked like the carved faces on the mountain, there were others but the four were easy to recognize, that had seriously upset looks on their faces. They often seemed to say angry, harsh words to one another but it took great effort to hear ghosts when she suppressed her power so.

While she did some digging on the suspicious nature of the orphanage, Kagome also submerged herself in the history section of the Konoha public library. She learned the origins of shinobi(Seriously? NINJA?) and the history of the Hidden Villages. Learning about Kiri made her very glad she had landed in Konoha. As she delved deeper into the basic accounts of the Rikudo Sennin and the Shodai, Kagome became almost certain they had possessed at least mid-level holy souls who had used their ki to take supreme advantage of this world's over abundance of energy. Which meant _she_ would have _no_ trouble living in this world at all.

History lessons done with, Kagome began to devote herself to the ever infuriating mystery of the workers' unearned wealth. She hit a dead end on finding the children who were being cheated, Kagome started breaking into the accounting books which were left out in the open unguarded. Strange for a village filled to the brim with shinobi. The calculus she used to thoroughly check for the missing money took weeks due to the sheer amount of orphans left from the Kyuubi attack. Kagome finally hit the jackpot at the very end of a terribly taken care of book. The reprehensible curs **had** been stealing **every** cent of a child listed as Uzumaki Naruto.

Since Kagome knew every child in her orphanage by sight, she _knew_ there should be no Uzumaki Naruto listed as being in her orphanage's account books. She took on a grim thought as the indications of this very fact raised very disturbing questions in her mind. Kagome knew of a hallway in the most rundown part of the building that had been locked up due to 'dangerous conditions' and her blood ran cold as the thought struck her. If the kid was still alive and resided in the dilapidated hallway she had work to do.

First she questioned the kids that roomed with her if they knew of an Uzumaki Naruto "The grown-up's say he's _bad_ Kagome-chan. And we'd better steer clear if we don't wanna be killed by the Fox." It lead her to the conclusion that obviously the Kyuubi was still around in some way, it was the only thing that would be labled 'Fox', if not in it's original form perhaps. Which was not good. Kitsune were known to be utterly vicious in avenging themselves as Shippo had demonstrated to InuYasha. After gathering the information she could from those from 'her age group', she went and asked adults. "What! What do you want with the Fox brat? That demon is no good little girl! Stay away if you don't wanna end up like your parents orphan!" Seeing no other option she began to leisurely stroll to the Tower to go see Sarutobi, ignoring the worker's shouting to return.

It did take awhile since Konoha was confusing to new people at best, but Kagome found her way eventually. Once she entered the building she saw the paperwork slaves running around frantically trying to stay on course. Raising an eyebrow at the chaotic atmosphere, she shrugged and began to climb the stairs that lead to the Hokage's office. Kagome knocked, as was polite, and then let herself in.

The first thing she noticed was the complex illusion on the desk. It looked like it was copying and replicating documents, and it derailed her previous train of thought to prompt the question "What the hell is on your desk Sarutobi-san?" A tired head craned around the towering stacks of paperwork to see who it was. He looked surprised to see her "Arasoi-san? Is there something wrong with my desk?" She nodded and walked behind his desk "You gotta illusion of some sort on it. Looks pretty old too, it's decayed a lot. The edges are blurry and the print is all jumbled up."

Sarutobi frowned to himself, trying to see what the four year obviously did by the fascinated look on her face. Suddenly he caught sight of a scruffy array covering his desk out of the corner of his eye. The Professor took over and calmly swiped through a critical part of the seal, destroying it. And much of the hellacious paper vanished like a mirage! Sarutobi felt his jaw dropped but he was much too busy planning on how to let everyone know just what a hero the little girl was. Arasoi Kagome had solved the insolvable problem of the multiplying paperwork! Since the Shodai had entered into the office Hokages through the years had tried and failed to end the Legion of the Paper, and now it was gone! Sarutobi regained his composure to examine the seal. It was old enough to be from the Shodai's reign and it was obviously of Uchiha make. It seemed like Madara had truly gotten his revenge upon the last Mokuton user after all.

Kagome tugged on his arm to regain his attention "Before I got sidetracked I needed to tell you something very important Sarutobi-sama." The change in suffix alerted him to the graveness of whatever matter she wished to bring to his attention. "The workers in the orphanage have been stealing money from one of the children and pocketing it for their own uses." Sarutobi began to leak a little killing intent as he felt a suspicion prod at his mind at who the child was. "The kid they've been cheating Sarutobi-sama is called Uzumaki Naruto." His back straitened and Kagome was treated to a sight of the man who history had named the God of Shinobi, and the murderous intent skyrocketed reaching almost as high as Sesshomaru's. "Arasoi-san report how you came to these conclusions. This is a serious accusation and the people who stand accused could be charged for treason." He remembered himself; this was **not **one of his subordinates! This was a four year old who was likely scared out of her mind. Sarutobi was greatly surprised to see her unaffected "First off that struck me as odd was that everything the workers possessed was of higher quality than they should be able to afford. Secondly now of the children I knew by sight, which is all of them, none displayed signs of being short of money. So I went snooping around and came across a cache of unguarded account books. So I went through and begin to calculate every bit of money spent to see where it was coming from. Now imagine my surprise to find in the back of my orphanage's book, evidence that the money was coming from a child I have _never seen or heard of_." She scowled in unison with the Hokage, and he nodded at her to continue "So I started asking around to see if anyone knew of the kid. I got '"The grown-ups say he's _bad_ Kagome-chan. And we'd better steer clear if we don't wanna be killed by the Fox." ' out of the kids rooming with me." Sarutobi was severely displeased and it showed quite clearly, his Killing Intent forcing the paper slaves to evacuate the building - a fact he was not aware of. "So next I found an adult to see if I got anything better." She snarled out "A old man that I know to be a gentle soul to all the orphans said to me ' "What! What do you want with the Fox brat? That demon is no good little girl! Stay away if you don't wanna end up like your parents orphan!" '. The only place I can think of that they could be keeping him in is a filthy dilapidated hallway marked to be condemned. He hasn't been seen at least since I've arrived Sarutobi-sama." Sarutobi fought not to lash out at the incredible little girl in front of him, but his Killing Intent(which will now be KI) grew out of his control and Anbu stormed into the building.

They grabbed Kagome in a headlock and asked "Sandaime-sama what is your orders?" The kindly old man Sarutobi had been for years was gone and the hardened Kage stood in front of his Anbu as he hadn't since the Second Shinobi War. "Pig! I want a four man team **now** to the Orphanage! (No official name, since it will never be brought up again.) Include Dog as well. Tell him I have changed my mind on the matter of adoption!" The pig masked Anbu rushed to the Anbu HQ to fulfill his orders. He had not believed his predecessor when he had told him how the Sandaime had once been. Now he knew his predecessor had been completely correct.

Sarutobi turned to the patiently waiting child, wondering with something not unlike awe as to how the completely untrained civilian stood before him when many Jounin would have collapsed by now gasping for breath. "Arasoi-san. I am doubly in debt to you. Without your help neither of these matters would have been brought to me. Would you like to see the fruits of your labors and come with me to retrieve Naruto-kun?" Kagome gave him a deep formal bow "It would please me more than you know Sarutobi-sama to see Naruto-san taken out of that place. I had a little brother and an adopted one." She smiled just a miniscule bit, knowing that the child would no longer be in danger hopefully. The sincerity that rang throughout her voice like a bell made him smile just a bit to know that even after hearing so many outcries against Naruto she still saw him as a little boy to be protected. Like her brothers.

Pig returned with Dog like he had never seen his superior. So serious yet there was a strange glint to his lone eye that lightened the coal black to dark grey. It was unnerving to say the least. However it did not compare to the tiny civilian girl in the Sandaime's office. So calm and composed, like she was being read a fairytale, while the horror inducing KI was enough to knock a Jounin on the ass. Unnatural for anyone so young, and by the time a day had gone by all in Anbu would know to watch this girl. Perhaps Danzo-sama would like a new recruit?

The duo reached the Tower with time to spare and Sarutobi addressed Pig "Pig you are dismissed. Return to your patrols. Dog, come with me. Arasoi- san lead the way please." She smiled softly and motioned for them to follow as she turned and walked out the door.

As they exited the Tower they were met by several Jounin who were fully prepared for the possibility of a nukenin or perhaps an assassin. Kagome stopped when she saw the veritable bristling wave of glinting weapons and turned to Sarutobi and the mysterious dog masked shinobi. "I think they think you had a problem with me Sarutobi-san." Sarutobi chuckled at the humorous way she put it. "I believe you're right. Shall we gather some backup perhaps Arasoi-san?" She tilted her head cutely like a baby bird, making many shinobi slightly melt on the inside at the cuteness. "Is there anyone you recommend Dog-san?"

Kakashi finally took note of the miniscule civilian, who was standing in the face of so much KI. It was odd she was asking him instead of Sarutobi, but he was gratified since whatever she had caused had changed Sarutobi's mind on the matter of him adopting Naruto. "Sarutobi Asuma, Maito Gai, Yuuhi Kurenai, Mitarashi Anko, and Morino Ibiki." If it had something to do with Naruto he would need witnesses he trusted to tell the truth and the more varied they were the better. Anko and Ibiki could perhaps _persuade_ someone to talk. The five requisitioned looked to their leader for affirmation and received a nod. The arranged themselves around their Hokage, sparing only a passing glance at the young girl.

Anko approached the brat, thinking she must be important, but she would slow down the shinobi if someone didn't carry her. "Yo, brat. I'll need to carry you so we don't have to keep to your pace." The brat nodded, seemingly uncaring of the fact she was Orochimaru's former apprentice, and presented herself to be picked up. Anko picked the brat up bridal style and looked to the old man, asking silently who the kid was. "That is Arasoi Kagome, Anko. She brought a very important issue to my attention and we'll need her to show us the location of our target." Anko nodded and gazed at the brat 'So… She is important. But how…?'

Kakashi took control of the assorted Jounin who were staring at the girl child "Alright! We have our orders! Move out!" And they, as one, took to the rooftops while Kagome pointed to the tall building that served as her temporary home. It only took the Jounin, Kage, and Anbu a minute what had taken her an hour. Kagome resolved to learn how to do so herself. "Anko-san. Please release me now." Anko let the kid go and watched her lightly land on both feet. "This way everyone. We'll need to make sure the workers don't either hide the target somewhere else or try and off the target." The way she had phrased her command made everyone take pause. It sounded like a veteran shinobi was speaking from the girl's mouth. Ibiki resolved to have Inoichi take a stroll through the civilian's mind as soon as it was feasible.

The shinobi followed Kagome like wolves following their sheep. It was not a nice feeling but a hostile Sesshomaru had them beaten with two hands and a foot tied behind his back. She meandered in and quickly found the greasy worker who started to shout "ARASOI KA-" He stopped as he took in the sight of so very many high ranking shinobi and the one who was the Hokage's son stepped forward "Gather your fellow workers. This is a formal investigation requiring the Sandaime Hokage himself. I suggest you don't keep us waiting." The greasy man gulped and then called for his fellows.

All the shinobi were ready to skewer somebody in irritation and played with their kunai, as it took the greasy one five minutes to assemble the other four that worked there. As soon as they had all lined up, shivering in fear, Sarutobi spoke with a frown marring his face "Ibiki-kun. Would you please get them to speak for us while we go retrieve the target?" Ibiki almost smiled, getting these five to talk would be too easy "As you wish Hokage-sama." Sarutobi turned to the little girl who stood next to him "Arasoi-san? Show us the way please."

She gave a sharp nod as the smile left her face and concentrated on slowly easing off the control she had of her power while she began to lead them through the complex maze that was the Orphanage. Though Kagome didn't know it the shinobi were almost impressed by just how complex the seeming simple orphanage was, and the subtle power that kept growing made them uneasy. It took around five minutes to reach the dilapidated hallway, where Kagome paused to let Sarutobi regain his composure. She let the other shinobi explore the rooms but she knew what they were looking for would have a new lock on the outside. Soon enough she found what had probably been a supply closet once upon a time with a new padlock on it. She turned to Anko, she seemed like the person who would know how to undo it. The purple haired kunoichi started to jimmy the lock and it quickly popped open, obviously not meant to stand firm against anybody but a four year old.

Once the door was opened the fetid stench of human waste reached them. Asuma quickly held up his lighter to get some sight and nearly lost his lunch at what he saw. A sickly, tiny, emaciated, and bruised boy was revealed. Every one of the shinobi drew in a gasp as they took in what had happened to the Kyuubi container. Kagome raced forward and quickly hauled the boy into the hallway. She caught glimpses of the horrified look on the shinobi's faces and more than one had tears in their eye, before she called forth her ki. It appeared to be reddish-pink flames upon her hand, and her blue eyes bled pink. The shinobi tensed but the curious Hokage raised a hand to forestall them. She had not mentioned any special abilities, but perhaps she didn't know it was special?

She touched her hand to his bare forehead and the flames eagerly licked at his flesh and she spoke in monotone as she focused on doing her duty "Respiratory infection- nearly fatal. Lacerations- shallow, but dirty. Malnutrition- severe should be fatal but is still fixable. Badly set bones- must be rebroken in order to heal correctly. Muscles torn and strained in consistence of being repaired without enough nutrients?" The list went on and it made chills go down the spines of all the shinobi to see the child callously recite so many medical conditions that should have insured the death of the recipient, except Kyuubi had no wish to see the afterlife. Sarutobi was chilled like his subordinates but the Professor was very intrigued as to what Kagome would do next.

"Commencing regeneration of musculature condition." The ki flames flared and shot into Naruto's slightly open mouth and lit him up from the inside out. Creating an effect like he was a paper lantern to it's flame. Kakashi watched with a desperate stare, if Naruto had even half what the civilian had said then he needed this like a fish needed gills. Kakashi desperately wanted his sensei's son to live, he wanted so badly to give him a home and family like Minato had for him. And before their amazed eyes the boy seemed to gain muscles within seconds compared to what he had had before. "Commencing restoration of defects caused by malnutrition." Naruto seemed to gain a healthier look and grew at least three inches as the energy repaired as best it could to restore his stunted growth. "Commencing fixation of skeletal structure." A hideous snapping started as the energy precisely rebroke each incorrectly set bone and healed it to perfection. "Commencing restorations of respiratory defects." Kurenai and Gai broke out of the shock of seeing the child releasing her power. Kurenai quietly put her hands in the Ram sign and whispered "Kai." The image was no genjutsu. Gai was not so suspicious and broke out into verse "OH! This wondrous civilian is fanning her Flames of Youth like I have never seen in another! Yosh! I must have her as my apprentice!" The others sweatdropped at Gai's antics.

"Commencing final stage, healing lacerations and bruising. Proceeding now." The energy swelled to new heights, engulfing Kagome as well as Naruto. The cuts and tears finally healed leaving behind a nearly perfectly healthy child and an exhausted Kagome. She swayed in her sitting position as the exhaustion of using her unchained power in an untrained body made it's repercussions well known. The crushing fatigue was making itself known to Kagome and she managed to speak "Yo… He'll be fine, but he'll need an ungodly amount of nutritious food. Sarutobi-san remember I'll be collecting one of those payments soon. And I… I think I am going to sleep for awhile… Keep an eye on him eh Dog?" After whispering it loudly enough for the shinobi to hear Kagome seemed to lose that divine inner fire that powered her as she toppled to the ground.  
Anko stepped forwards into the still purified air surrounding the miko who was dead to the world and felt the Curse Mark burn and writhe in agony. But it had nothing on the pain of an activated Mark so Anko easily remained upright as she lifted the now fragile seeming Kagome. "She looks so different Sandaime-sama. Like something went out of her." Sarutobi nodded gravely as he beheld the child, and the sight drove home that this was a _civilian child_ and **not a medic**. So tiny and fragile, very different from the image the conscious Kagome projected… "Yes, I do think you are right Anko-chan. Would you take Arasoi-san to the Hospital now?" Anko nodded "Hai Sandaime-sama. Should I get Ibiki as well?" "Yes, do let Ibiki-kun know what has happened. Everything Anko-chan." She nodded and heard the desperate cries as she raced down the hallway "Jii-jii? Jii-jii!"

It seemed Naruto would be alright afterall.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Mental Landscaping

A/N: Inoichi is going to take the stroll of a lifetime. Will he make it out without some close calls? Nope! Will he make it out period? Maybe. Depends on how Kagome decides. Do note there will be many elements of different crossovers in Kagome's memories and it's gonna get interesting. Don't forget to vote on who comes back in time! Onwards!

Inoichi flicked his hair back over his shoulder as he gazed at the small civilian who Ibiki had called him in to check out. He picked up her chart from the end of her bed in the private room. Arasoi Kagome had been out for over a week after she had apparently healed the Kyuubi container from Death's doorsteps, presumably due to her powers 'shorting out' her body. Inoichi looked to Hiashi who had been asked to look at her chakra pathways by the Sandaime. Hiashi was fascinated judging by the look on his usually stoic face. Inoichi felt his patience strain as he felt time slipping by as the Hyuuga examined Kagome. He was not sure how long the Hyuuga stared at the civilian but he deactivated his Byakugan. Hiashi spoke slowly "The most astonishing thing about this girl is that she has no structured chakra pathways and no defined tenketsu." Inoichi felt his mind seize the ramification of that statement. The Hyuuga fighting technique would be worthless against this girl and imprisonment would not work sense they could not bind tenketsu and pathways that weren't really there. "Secondly her chakra is made up of pure spiritual energy and I cannot really estimate how much she has. All I know is that it is like looking into the Sun." The comparison of how the Kyuubi had been the same did not escape Hiashi.

Idly Inoichi wondered just how sought after the girl would be if the information Hiashi had just revealed to him became known. The Uchiha would undoubtedly try to snap her up, hell any clan would. Inoichi himself was considering it. But this politicking and jockeying for power and the ultimate trump over the Byakugan would have to wait. Inoichi had a job to do and the sooner he was done the sooner he could think this over more closely. Carefully he started to prepare himself walk into someone else's mental landscape and placed his hand gently on the small girl's head. He closed his eyes and sent his psyche into her's and knew no more of the outside world.

Hiashi initially was unconcerned since he knew the Yamanaka clan head had done thing hundreds of times, but when his body started to sway he knew something was very different this time around. Acting on his intuition Hiashi pulled over a chair and carefully maneuvered Inoichi's body into it. Hiashi settled in for a long wait. Things just couldn't be normal for this girl could they?

~Down the Rabbit Hole Inoichi goes!~

Inoichi suddenly found himself in a lifeless desert. There was shiny silver sand rising in high and minor dunes with a mischievous wind dancing across them. It reminded him of Wind country. He looked up and saw it was twilight in this strange place, and there were many moons and suns and stars casting their own light in the sky. Inoichi was unsettled. He had never seen a mindscape so vast before. He started to walk forwards hoping to come across a representation of a memory.

It seemed like he walked for hours, but he knew he had entered a different area of the desert. The sand had faded away leaving only a perfectly flat, reflective white floor with areas that opened up black holes that lead to a not-real world illuminated with hexagonal white markings that also made up the fabric of that odd world beneath the reflective flooring. A glowing rose gold band divided that under world in half but there was no defined bottom there. He backed away from the edge of the hole he had looked through in caution and took a better look at his surroundings.

Inoichi possessed a television like many people and had had trouble with it going static on him. When he saw the reality of this mindscape start to glitch and go static with a 'brrriztsh' sound he made fast tracks back to the central area of the desert scape he had been in before. The big dunes had long since disappeared and only small dunes occasionally popped up in the now mostly flat sandy area. It didn't take long for him to see the veritable sea of weapons that Inoichi guessed made up the compass rose of the mindscape.

As he got closer he could see the weapons in almost excruciating detail. There were so many kinds of swords he had no names for, it was terrifying. Not forgetting every other kind of weapon he had ever had the fortune or misfortune to glimpse and multitudes more he had never dreamed of being possible. Many of the weapons were rusted and pitted beyond repair, some were well worn from battle, some were broken and fractured and cracked, a few were well cared for, and maybe five were new. Inoichi knew that they were representations the mind had made her memories, but when he drew close something in the back of his brain that still knew of being prey screamed out a fervent denial. Listening to those instincts while in another's mind where you knew naught what you could face was crucial and often saved your life.

And those instincts told him to stay very, very far away from those not-weapons. So Inoichi skirted the sea of weaponry and continued onwards. Again he found himself in another section of the desert scape where sand gave way to dirt and grit and nothing would grow. Inoichi looked around with curious eyes until he caught sight of a once great and fabulous metallic metropolis, but it was now a decaying ruin. He started to walk towards it but he saw the first of the defenses he had worried about.

There were three men standing in his way and each held a monstrously oversized sword like it was a feather. A tall man in an obviously military uniform stood with a long, but short in comparison to the other two's, and thick sword. He had spiky black hair that looked like it could poke your eyes out and _glowing_ purplish-blue eyes. His defined face, which seemed to be made for smiling, held a frown and he looked defensive. The second was the shortest and had on a black outfit with a distinctive wolf face ornament on the left shoulder. He possessed light blonde hair styled in high, puffy, feathery spikes and blue eyes that glowed like the first. His sword was unique in it's golden hue and the odd lines that ran through it. He was very effeminate in his features, lean and willowy with feminine facial features, but he possessed an air that seemed to say 'I've seen it all before and will again. But I will not bow.' Inoichi pegged him as the one to go after first. The determination to weather, survive, and thrive in the face of anything was exactly what you did **not** want your opponent to have, it made them get up after having a hole through their heart to take you along for a ride to the afterlife. The final defender was also the tallest and most striking. He easily towered over the other two and he wore a gray and black outfit. He possessed the longest hair he had ever seen on a fighter except Jiraiya. It was distinctly styled so it had two 'crests' made by the part in his silver hair before falling straight. What then caught his attention and kept it was the easily six foot long katana. If he was able to wield it in battle then the tall man must have complete and totally mastery of it. He had glowing green cat-slit pupiled eyes.

The stoic blonde addressed him in a harsh language and shifted a bit to allow him to see what he was guarding. A monstrous half woman half tentacle beast and all unnatural was chained to the ground with sutra littering her body liberally. Next to 'her' was a carbon copy twin of the silver haired man, but appearance was where the resemblance ended. The twin was even more tightly bound than the monster and his eyes held an insane look that sharply reminded Inoichi of Orochimaru at his greatest and insanest. The insane twin shouted something mockingly to the blonde which made the sane twin grimace along with the one with the shortest sword. The silver haired one spoke "I suggest you leave. We do not take your intrusion lightly. Kagome will be up soon and you will not want to be here when she comes in for maintenance."

Inoichi was confused, defenses had never spoken or reasoned with him, just attacked him. "I'm here to determine if Arasoi Kagome is an enemy kunoichi or a danger to my village. If I can not determine this while I am here it is extremely likely that she will be put for execution." The trio of men looked severely displeased with his statement before the silver one gave a snort and called out something which caused the dark haired one to laugh and the blonde gain a slight blush before barking something and causing the other two to laugh louder. The dark one managed to choke out "Go see…"The word did not translate "He might be more helpful than us. We're just here to keep an eye or six on these two and prevent them from leaving. You'll find him in the"The words were completely garbled and foreign even to the man speaking them so Inoichi had no chance to understand. "Area of the scape."  
He heard many people tromping through the sands from the direction of the ruins, and he heard people speaking the harsh language and from the tone cursing in it as well. The blonde called out "The others are coming. I suggest you get going now." Inoichi gave a hesitant nod before sprinting back the way he came. When he arrived at the compass rose he stopped and sat down to collect his thoughts.

Inoichi frowned 'This child's mind is the most complex, segmented, and fragmented I've ever seen in all my years. It's like instead of one person's mind and memories, multitudes are crammed in here into their own portions without care.' Inoichi began to think aloud "So I've seen two segments of her mind. Three if you count the compass rose sea of weaponry. I haven't seen anything to suggest she's even _seen_ a shinobi before. There's not even a single kunai or shurikan in that sea, so there can't be any way she's an undercover agent. Even her defenses or whatever they are, showed little aggression." Inoichi also noticed in the dead center of the sea was a chained form that looked like an adult form of Arasoi Kagome to his keen eyes. But considering just what else he had seen chained and sealed, Inoichi knew it would be just another horror.

He looked upwards, hoping perhaps the twilight sky alit with the multitudes of moons, suns, and stars would provide an answer. And surprisingly it did. Up in the sky was a glowing pink orb and it looked so very enticing to the unsuspecting shinobi. So he gave himself a gigantic chakra boost to push himself high enough to reach the orb. It was exhilarating to do so and he let out a bark of laughter. Once he reached the orb he clearly saw Arasoi Kagome inside curled into the fetal position, her waist length hair covering her. He noticed that she had on an odd outfit. A skin tight black cat suit with red armoring, and had he known the taijiya Sango he would have remarked it was similar in all except coloration. There were some odd features as well. She had red, slightly tinted pink, energy horns that emerged from just above the top of the center of a third eye (also made of energy) and the horns were made of an interlocking pattern of connecting eyes that nearly touched each other in a full circle with a diameter of about a foot and a half. And she had a free standing half skirt that left open her front half and went from her waist to her feet. It was made of the same energy and was engraved with geometric designs.

Inoichi had absolutely _no idea_ as to what it was, but he hazarded it ran along the lines of a kekkei genkai that produced battle armor and perhaps weapons made purely out of her strange chakra. Not unlike the chakra coats jinchuriki were known to produce, but it left much uncovered by the energy. This would mean that she had great potential to become a heavy combat specialist which Konoha had few of. And with he had heard about her healing abilities from Anbu she had the remote possibility of becoming another Tsunade. That was something Konoha would _not_ mind experiencing again.

He felt gravity decide he had spent enough time gazing at the girl and pulled him hurtling back to the sea of weaponry. He heard rustling, clanking, groaning, and the screeching of metal which caused him to look down and what he saw was terrifying. The sea of weaponry was no longer rotting away in the desert wasteland, it was arranged now to be pointing the sharp ends upwards in the exact area he was going to land in.

Using the precious time he had left he called out in a strident voice "Release!" and vanished just as his left foot scraped the tip of the tallest weapon.

~Inoichi returns from the looking glass~

Hiashi knew Inoichi had returned when he gave a large gasp before panting like he had just narrowly escaped death. He frowned but made no move. "Hiashi-san thanks for waiting around. We need to report this to the Hokage as soon as possible." Hiashi's frown deepened but he rose and left the room without waiting for Inoichi, knowing that the blonde was close behind. And as they exited the room, an anxious blonde little boy crept in the room as quietly as possible from his hiding place.

Dog-san had told him that this girl had figured out what the orphanage workers were doing to him and had gotten jii-jii to save him. But why would she? Everyone called him a demon or Fox Brat and he didn't understand why she would help the demon. Yet she did, as if that alone wasn't enough she healed him to where he was healthier than he could ever remember being in his life! And he was getting adopted by someone who had known his father!

Naruto wanted to know why the person who he had never met and didn't know the name of would do this for_ him_ of all people.

And he was in luck, Kagome was opening her eyes. "Uurgh. Anyone catch the ID of who did the flamenco on me?" Naruto flinched but piped up "Hey! You're the one who got jii-jii to find me right?" Kagome sat up enough to see the blonde spikes of the boy she had helped to rescue and the first thing that came to mind was 'Oh my God! That is the most **adorable** kid I've seen!' Then she remembered the question and nodded. Naruto nearly burst with his emotions "Thank you so much! 'Cause of you I'm gonna be adopted and I don't have to ever see those mean workers ever again! But why would you do it?" Kagome gave him a slight smile "I had a little brother Naruto. I'd hope if he was ever in the same spot someone would rescue him too." Naruto blushed and looked down. No one had ever smiled at him before, besides jii-jii, Ayame, and Teuchi. It made something his chest flutter like one of those butterflies he had seen once.

He whispered "Would you…would you like to be my friend?" Naruto cringed in anticipation of a furious rejection but was shocked to his very core "Sure." "Really? I-I mean yes!" Kagome giggled, he was as adorable as a kit. She was surprised when he crawled on top of her bed and yawned before falling asleep right then and there. She stared at the sleeping boy for a moment longer before shrugging and going back to sleep herself.

Healing a boy and not purifying him to Hell by accident was tiring work afterall.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: Traveling Homewards

A/N: Alrighty people. First off let me say that I'm sorry for the false leads on this chapter. I was a little glitchy last night. NOW! There is news for the development of the story! Kakashi and Naruto have been elected to travel through time!

Kakashi: …Maa?

Sin: Oh yes. DarkPhoenix wanted you to go along and they're the only one to have given an opinion. So off you'll go!

Kakashi:…

Sin: ONWARDS!

Sarutobi looked at the sleeping duo on the standard Konoha hospital bed. He was a Hokage, he had lived through two Shinobi Wars, and all kinds of battles but the cuddling children made something in his heart go gooey and say "Awww!" He gave a self conscious cough, thankful there were no Yamanaka lurking nearby. And speaking of Yamanaka, Inoichi's report of his mind probing, was…unsettling to say the least.

The vivid and avid details of Kagome's mindscape that Inoichi had relayed had raised some alarm bells. The compass rose sea of weaponry that had come alive at the last moment came to mind. And the trio of men that acted as if they were sentient and separate from Kagome was disturbing along with what they were guarding. The 'glitching' portion of the mindscape and the strange under world also begged answers to the questions that rose in the wake of the new information.

Generally everything in a mind was a mental metaphysical metaphor for such things as memories, personality, sanity, and intellect. The more intelligent you were the more vividly real the mindscape would appear to be. The more insane you were the more errors there was in the mind along with a destabilization in the structuring of the entire scape. Such as gravity fluctuations and the reality blurring. Personality added color, texture, and sensation to a mindscape, but a person who kept firm control over their mindscape could make this extremely misleading. Memories took on the shape of objects that usually held some significance, such as a beloved stuffed animal might be a metaphor for memories of childhood. Weaponry appearing in the mind meant you had at least some level of mastery over the weapon in question. And Guardians usually appeared as whatever made the person feel safe, and were little more than unthinking attack drones which could be modified for better combat ability.

When Sarutobi compared conventional definitions and accepted explanations to Kagome he just got a massive headache that pounded through his head like King Enma and his Bo staff. Luckily Sarutobi would not be forced to contemplate it for too long since Inoichi confirmed that she was not apart of an enemy nation, and that she was at least somewhat passive-aggressive. He _**would not think**_ about the tentacle woman abomination Inoichi had shown him _**damnit**_!

Sarutobi noticed that Kagome's eyes were fluttering open, and she gave an adorable yawn, making that traitorous non-manly part of his heart turn into gooey mush again. "Hn? What are you doing looming over again Sarutobi-san?" He gave a chuckle. "Ah…well I just wanted you to know that you passed our test on whether or not you were an enemy." She blinked before comprehension dawned on her face "The mindreader found what he was looking for?" It was Sarutobi's turn to blink, before nodding "He's lucky I was so exhausted, otherwise I would have activated my defense protocols." Sarutobi felt relief shoot down his spine for Inoichi's lucky timing.

"So what's going to happen to me now? I cannot go back to the Orphanage now." Sarutobi took out his pipe and lit it, but a frown at his action made him feel like a child trying to watch a Jounin's practice and had gotten caught. It was decidedly odd. "I understand. While I'm thankful you saved Naruto and broke the paperwork illusion," Oh Gods how he loved the child for that. "Arasoi-san you're now out on the streets." The body of the previously asleep blonde stiffened till he looked like a wooden puppet instead of a child. "And since you're an orphan you have no family to take you in." She nodded "Would you consider being taken in by one of my shinobi?" She shook her head in denial but chipped in "You're going to have to screen the shinobi since I have no intentions to stop seeing Naruto." Sarutobi considered the shinobi he had brought with him a week ago. 'Kakashi- No way. I do not need another pervert on my hands. Gai- No way in Hell. Ibiki- Hnn. It would be an interesting choice, but…Nope. Kurenai-Her taijutsu is barely Chunin and the repercussion of helping Naruto means she'll need a better defender. When ten Chunin and a couple Jounin attack you over misplaced blame over the Kyuubi attack you need much better taijutsu, mastery over genjutsu regardless. So no to Kurenai. Asuma- My brat is as lazy as Kakashi, no need to pass on his bad habits. And that leaves Anko…Damn.'

"Would you mind terribly if I turned you over to Mitarashi Anko for a trial run, before you decided if you wish to stay with her?" "Nah. She's the skimpily dressed one with the purple hair, yes?" "That is Anko."

She turned to the obviously awake blonde who was clutching at her like a clinging vine to a trellis. "What's wrong Naruto?" "You're not going to leave me right Kagome-chan?" "Of course not. Just trying to find a place to stay. By the way Naruto you might want to go find Kakashi." "Huh? Why?" "'Cause he seems… overprotective? Yeah that's the word." Naruto turned to Sarutobi whom gave a solemn nod; he had thought one day Kakashi just might put a Raikiri through his chest for refusing his plea to adopt Naruto. He knew just how narrowly he had dodged _that_ kunai.

He flared his chakra to pull out one of the Anbu from hiding "Hai Hokage-sama?" "Bring to me Tokubetsu Jounin Mitarashi Anko, Cat." "Hai Hokage-sama!"

Kagome whispered something to Naruto which caused him to giggle alongside her. Sarutobi was curious "What's so funny?" Naruto gave him a foxy grin and slyly said "Well jii-jii we were wondering if when you join Anbu if you lose the ability to say anything other than 'Hai Hokage-sama'." Sarutobi gave a pained groan. Somehow, someway he knew this would only be the beginning of the Anbu related jokes. But he also knew that since the Kyuubi and the prevailing peace, Anbu had begun to rot as surely as his body. And if the pride and respect Anbu enjoyed had to be kicked to the curb to reverse this, so be it.

While he had drifted into more serious thought the Anbu, Cat, had fetched Anko from her dango shop and had promptly escorted her there. Once she saw the Hokage was with the two brats, Anko felt her hackles raise as she sensed something fishy was going on. The Hokage smiled and explained his request, really a command, and Anko nodded. A free trial minion? Like she was going to pass this up! She gave a devious grin to her trial minion, who smiled and cheekily gave her a victory sign. "Yo brat! You ready to be sprung from the bleach smelling hell they call a hospital?" Frantic nodding "Okay! Let's drop off the baby blonde with Kakashi before he decides to stop reading his porn." The thought of something worrying Kakashi enough, into not reading his precious Icha Icha sent a shiver down the shinobi's spines. "Hey! I am **not** a baby!" Kagome and Anko snorted in synch. "_**I'M NOT!**_"

Anko grabbed them both before vaulting out the window, much to their delight, Sarutobi judged by the cries of "**WOOOHOOO!**" "Whee! Faster Anko!" "Yeah scary lady FASTER!" He smiled an evil smile that made Cat want to go find a nice dry boulder to crawl under, and once Cat found that boulder he was _staying_ there. With the new quartet, Konoha would never know peace again!

~Far In A Future~

Naruto shifted his weight uncomfortably on the dead ground that once was the lush, almost Amazonian, Forest of Death as he stared at the tense Kakashi. "Kakashi?" A crinkle of an old, worn page of Icha Icha as it was turned "Yes Naruto?" Naruto grimaced as he looked at his sensei and father-figure. They were the only ones left of the Konoha shinobi after the massive and all consuming war that Madara had started. The world had shook and trembled as cataclysmic and titanic powers waged a ravaging war for years. Yes Madara and the Akatsuki had been completely wiped out, and the strange demonic statue that was thought to be created by the Rikkudo Sennin had been obliterated by a maelstrom of Rasenshurikans. But… it was a hollow victory at best. In the quest to destroy Uchiha Madara and his legacy of pain and betrayal, the shinobi of all the nations had also destroyed the world.

While it had been a joyous day the day Madara had finally died, it meant nothing when eradication of the human race was creeping ever closer every day.

"Are… you remembering things that never happened as well?" Kakashi tensed even more, before snapping the book shut and placing it back into his breast pocket. He turned to Naruto "Yes. I…remember being finally being able to adopt you." Naruto felt his eyes widen at that. It had taken him years after returning to Konoha from his training trip to pry out of Kakashi that he had tried for nearly a decade to adopt him before stopping when he thought it was _Naruto_ refusing the adoption. "I remember growing up with Kakashi-aniki." He heard more than saw the sharp intake of breath at that. "And I remember just how **happy** I was." He drew in a deep breath, not really wanting to relay the next piece of detail. "There was a girl… we both knew her since you took me in. She was called Arasoi Kagome. But she _never existed_!" It burst out of him in a harsh wave, remembering just how close the fictional girl and he had been. He had been so happy in the fictional world that had not happened it was agonizing, and by the look on Kakashi's face he felt the same way.

The world they remembered that had never existed made them wish desperately they had lived there in that world instead of this one.

Kakashi hardened himself to the look of helpless pain that showed on Naruto's face. They had only one chance to try and correct the world's path that Madara had set them on, it would not come again while they yet lived. For a lunar eclipse would only happen tonight and the next one would occur when no human would still roam the dead earth beneath their feet. The time warping fuinjutsu was enormous and the eclipse would open the timestream only for a short time. Naruto would need to start charging it soon.

"Either way, whether we have memories of something that never occurred or not, we need to prepare. Start charging the seal Naruto." Naruto nodded and drew heavily on the Kyuubi's chakra which it gave to him freely. It no more wish to roam a dead world for all eternity anymore than it's jailor.

As the moon began to turn a bloody crimsion, the timestream started to become visible. Reality started to warp and tear as the seal came alive with the unholy chakra of the Kyuubi and a horrible screaming filled their ears. It felt like the wind was picking up into a spectacular hurricane with them at the eye of the storm, but the wind had not blown for weeks. Just another sign at how the world was losing the battle to keep itself alive.

Then all the two shinobi knew was painpainpainpain. The world swirled away as they were pulled into the vortex they had ripped through time on the night of a lunar eclipse. Their molecules seemed to disintegrate and then recombine as the buffeting Time past them with all the velocity of a super nova. They knew they were still alive, but the pain was so all consuming it was like they had died and had been thrown into the Pit.

Finally the journey through the not-space not-reality came to an end and they felt themselves slammed back down into their bodies with the force of a mountain crashing down on them. Both gave agonized groans before drifting off to sleep in a very familiar apartment. It had worked. It was a miracle and despite the odds of it not working and them not surviving, _**it had worked**_. That thought followed them to their dreams, comforting the battered psyches of the shinobi with the hope of change for their precious people.

A/N: I'm getting pleas for explanations without telling me what you people are confused about! If something has you all going huh? PM me and I'll give you an answer! Ciao!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Getting To Know You

A/N: This chapter has been a pain in the butt, fighting me every step of the way, and I'm not sure if I won't redo it. But for now it's finished. And for the people who mentioned confusion hopefully you'll have a revelation somewhere in here.

Naruto: Idiot! The reviewers want to know who Kagome-chan is paired with!

Sin: I am undecided for the moment since this story is made on the go. Opinions are welcome though. Plus for the weapon introduced there is a link on my profile. Vocabulary for Kagome's skills and combat styles: Rentō-shi- Flick Reaper. Sōken-shi- Twin Blade. Sō Jū-shi- Dual Gunner. Sojutsu- Way of the Spear in Japanese very roughly. Kagome's other weapons will be introduced later as will a link to her energy armor. PM me if you need to ask something, and I'll do my best to answer.

It had been many years since Kagome had rescued the little boy who radiated youki that went by the name Uzumaki Naruto. She could honestly say he was quite the hell raiser, much like Shippo, and being adopted by the lazy, perverted gray haired man was probably the best thing to happen to the both of them since being introduced to Icha Icha or ramen. With utmost assurance she could say she knew the two so well after all these years that not even their metaphorical twins could beat her with information on the duo. Anko, on the other snake bitten hand was a completely different story. The insane purple haired, scantily clad Tokubetsu Jounin lived and breathed for the Torture and Interrogation Department and her missions which meant she was very rarely home when Kagome was. And the kunoichi would offer no details to a twelve year old. However despite this Anko fiercely loved her tenant since Kagome cooked, cleaned, kept house, and managed finances.

When Kakashi had finally quit home schooling Naruto, and ergo herself since she stuck to the blonde ball of crazed energy like a bur, she had meandered after Naruto when he signed up for the Academy just for the hell of it. Kagome had paid attention to history enough to learn about the geopolitical stage and such, and then focused solely on the shinobi geared classes. Quickly she and Naruto had earned the title of 'slackers' since they tended to only pay attention when it suited them, or Naruto would brainstorm while Kagome idly took notes on the rare thing they had not already learned. Shurikan throwing and the like were a waste of time since Kakashi had already taught them to the exacting standards of Anbu Captains, using the philosophy of "If I could learn it so can they but _faster_ since I am teaching them." For Naruto it had probably been the most grueling and exacting lessons they had been given, except conditioning with Gai which Kagome enjoyed, but for Kagome it was a warm-up with Sesshomaru. A strenuous session with Sesshomaru would include a no-holds-barred knockdown-drag out brawl that would make even Gai wince at the excessive use of deadly techniques and excessive power use.  
Eventually their boredom was assuaged by starting a pranking war with Anbu, and since they were banned from graduating early by the Council it was still being bitterly fought. Much of the shinobi population had used this to simulate and start up war games, so it was like being in a free for all at all times. It may have driven paranoia and anxiety in the shinobi and civilian populations to a record high but Konoha's dull edge was quickly razor sharp again, not that anyone outside Hi no Kuni noticed for some strange reason. Luckily for all involved Kagome was usually too busy with her own hobbies and tinkering to be able to plan any pranks or engineer something to cause chaos. The incident where she had redecorated all Anbu masks, except the smug Kakashi, to resemble cute Western Unicorns then screaming "Run for your lives! It's a murderous serenity of unicorns!" while running from rabid Anbu had cemented the belief _she_ was the Kyuubi incarnate for some reason.

Having a dog of war, a genius prodigy, a very experience mechanic, and a hyper pup in one's psyche was useful when she had the urge to cause some well deserved chaos. The civilians still looked at any and all paper she handled with primal terror after she accidentally distributed modified exploding tags and combat sutras.

Humming a cheerful tune, she headed to Kakashi's to go wake up the duo since it was the day she and Naruto would finally graduate. As she walked her spear bobbed in time to her steps, as it was resting against her shoulder like Miroku had done with his shakujo. It was somehow terrifying to the part of the brain that still crawled on all fours, the deep crimson color of the weapon giving the impression it was formed out of liquid blood. The shaft was approximately four feet and four inches with a crescent moon mounted upon it's back at the top of the shaft. The tips of the crescent were razor sharp and a little below on each side a diamond shape jutted out of, through, and into the crescent. The crowning glory was the seven inch crimson crystal suspended with no visible supports in the middle of the crescent, which loosely classified it as a spear. Kagome lovingly called it in public "Rebellion" since spears were iconic in rebellions and revolutions, but it reality it was named Red Wand for reasons she refused to share. As a bonus it was superior to the previous spear she had wielded since this one was crafted from a memory fragment precisely for her.

She remembered how surprised Naruto and Kakashi were when she just walked up to them one day with Red Wand resting on her shoulder with no explanation forthcoming. They had asked but she would likely never reveal how Red Wand came into being since it was much too sensitive to let the kunai and torture happy shinobi know. Luckily they had given up and labeled it as yet another mystery surrounding the too old looking child. It also brought to mind the fact she had nearly been unable to enroll in the Academy when a Hyuuga had informed her that the fact of having no defined tenketsu, chakra pathways, or even chakra meant that shinobi skills and jutsu would be useless to her. Kagome had known that her skills in sojutsu, as a sōken-shi, and as a rentō-shi could not be explained away despite having the Hokage in her debt so she could not even have argued in her favor based on those facts. Kagome scowled at the memory remembering just how much effort she had had to put into copying, rewriting, and adapting shinobi skills such as water walking for her own use. She shook herself out of it once she reached the apartment.

She lifted Red Wand off her shoulder and slammed it into the door three times to alert the shinobi within that someone was coming in since no one in the shinobi infested village seemed to use doors when there were _windows_. After 'knocking' she swung open the door only to be met by a kunai to her neck from Kakashi and a kunai to her waist from Naruto. She sighed and said "I thought we were over with this kind of greeting you idiots. I wake you up, and you guys aren't late to whatever you got going on." The two faltered when they saw it was the fictional character Kagome who featured in many of the false memories, the spear casually held in front of her in a defensive stance helping to cause the pause. Kakashi, being quicker on the uptake than Naruto even after all this time, said "Kagome?" The exasperated preteen sighed in an affirmative, before taking a look at their eyes.Their eyes reminded her of InuYasha after Hakurei collapsed; despairing war veterans who saw only defeat before them.

Kagome tensed before murmuring amusedly "How amusing. You've decided to copy me huh?" Naruto pressed his kunai a little deeper, breaking her skin before grounding out "Who's copied who?" She shot a sardonic to the men who were not the men she knew so well yet were those men. "Simple. You decided to join the club called 'Temporally and Dimensionally Displaced People'." The two shinobi looked at the preteen who should not exist in their past before removing their kunai. Kakashi gave her a grave look "I think we should go inside and talk." She appeared to relax Red Wand into a non-combative pose and smiled a saccharine smile "Sure, but we can't stay longer than an hour and a half." A vicious grin alighted on her prepubescent features and she gave a malicious chuckle, knowing how an adult trapped in a child's body would feel about this. "After all, today Naruto and I graduate."

Naruto paled and his face tightened before glancing to Kakashi who was amused by this. The two shinobi let the non-fictional person into their apartment, watching how familiar she was with the rooms before they all took a seat in the dining area. "So what would cause you two to risk life, limb, and soul to travel back in time? End of the world? Prevention of the apocalypse?" She shut her mouth when she saw the dumbfounded looks on their faces. Really the clichéd irony of this was enough to kill her. Kagome sighed and shot an incredulous look at the two war veterans. "You might want to start at the beginning for poor ole uninformed me." So they did, detailing Madara's history and just what his goals were that had caused the death of the world. "So I guess it's okay to tell you I already knew you were the Yondaime's son the Naruto?" "What the hell? How did you know? I didn't know till I was sixteen!" She shrugged "Eh, well I found a picture of him and put it together as soon as I saw it. Really aside from the skin tone and a minute bit of your facial structure, you are a clone of the man. The only reason I never told your younger self was the fact it was an S-class secret and I would not count on the Sandaime to keep me from being beheaded."

Kakashi looked at the girl who he had thought only existed as some sort of sick fantasy his mind had concocted from grief at losing all of Konoha. From the beginning all those 'false' memories had just made him absolutely **miserable** since that past was vastly better than his, and to learn that somehow they were real… It was mind blowing. Had the fuinjutsu not only thrown them backwards in time but also into an alternate reality? "So. How could you tell we were time travelers? And how did we copy _you_?" He watched the girl sigh before shifting a little "Well I should be in my mid-twenties." That caused some mouths to drop "Plus the fact this body I now inhabit was made and not born since I wasn't born in a universe that had shinobi." The mouths hit the floor. "I'm a miko, a shrine maiden whose soul has the power to purify youkai from existence. Now let me tell you what happened…" She detailed her journey with her friends and the background of her world. The time traveling was fascinating to the two shinobi, but since it could not be copied or replicated the fact she had befriended her natural enemies was more so. "Then when I asked Sesshomaru for training in the spear, he took me to the Western Lands where he taught me most of my fighting style which was designed to function as much like dancing as possible, and how to wield a spear. We became friends as the years flowed by. When he could no longer train me in sojutsu, he recruited his mother Shino to further my training." Kagome wondered how to put this "While my physical training was all well and good, I had reached my limit in my spiritual prowess. I could make sutra in a way that had never been thought of, using them to shatter the bones of my opponent and such. I could fly thanks to Sesshomaru who helped me recreate Hiten's chariot wheels, heal thanks to Kaede, purify again thanks to Kaede, and fight but I still wasn't strong enough. I searched out a way to get the power I needed and I found one and I used it despite the fact no one had ever lived through the attempt." Naruto knew well about deals like that and waited to see what she had done to gain the power he remembered being told had brought him back from death's doorstep. "Much, if not all, a soul's power is bound up in maintaining a memory filter that prevents you from going insane at the sheer amount of memories from previous lifetimes. The technique was to completely rip off and destroy the filter, but I tweaked it. I slowly dismantled the filter over time, allowing my mind to adjust to housing many new memories, and keep destroying it for as long as I felt I could handle it. I left ten percent of the filter intact and so kept my life and sanity, though this took several months." She shrugged at the spell bound men, the tale was quite incredible and it was obvious it was true since she had instantly identified them as not being themselves. She detailed her fight with Naraku and her subsequent death and rebirth courtesy of the Shikon, and how she had affected their lives.

Her story was greatly compressed down to the barest bones due to time constraints, but she removed her guilt in over not telling how she had learned her weaponry arts. "I learned my other weapons from one of my previous incarnations. He taught me how to use and make my weapons." It was confusing, but the men dazedly accepted it since they were still reeling from the information download and the time traveling.

Naruto glanced outside and said "Uh, Kagome we need to leg it if we wanna make it on time." She tilted her head a bit. "Point. Let's go shall we?" And she followed him out the window and to the Academy, leaving behind an indignant Kakashi. They managed to make it just before the clock struck, and raced to their seats, Kagome sitting by Naruto, and Naruto sitting next to Sasuke. Wordlessly she offered him ear plugs,as she smoothly put her's in while gripping Red Wand. Remembering how the Rookie Nine was right now, Naruto quickly put his in right before the two screaming fangirls Ino and Sakura got to the door. Luckily a glare from their idol and Kagome sent them to fighting over the seat on Sasuke's unoccupied side, instead of trying to assault Naruto.

Naruto had to fight the urge to crush Iruka in a hug since he not seen him alive in such a long time, but the firm hand tightly gripping his leg reminded him what a stupid idea it would be. Surprisingly everyone wound up on the same team as they had the first time around, with Kagome acting as an auxiliary member to Team Seven due to "Her astonishing teamwork with Uzumaki Naruto." At his questioning look she had given him a nod, they had been a great pair of fighters and she did not doubt they would be again. Again he watched the future traitor brood sullenly, except for the furtive glances at Kagome which she pointedly ignored, and the future student of Tsunade fangirl all over her idol. It was horrible watching the two he had seen grow into adults, no matter how twisted in Sasuke's case, reverted back into such children. He asked Kagome lowly "Why do you think we're on this team?" since she knew this world better than he for the moment, something he was rectifying as soon as he was able.

Kagome gave a disdainful look to the other two "We're on the same team since we have the potential of being made into a two man team like the Demon Brothers before they defected from their village. You're probably on the same team as the Uchiha to hopefully make him look better and as a psychological check. You cause him to stop brooding and grow, which meant you were going to be stuck with him no matter what. The fangirl is a poster girl for the fact a civilian can be a great kunoichi and she is extremely book smart, but in real life will die without some major help which hopefully we can provide. No matter if the Uchiha sucked as a shinobi, whether the fangirl couldn't use shurikan or kunai to save her life, or if you were the last in the scorings, this political teaming was bound to happen. And since we have broodmeister over here, we get Kakashi as our Jounin-sensei no matter what. However we're going to have a huge amount of trouble training them up to standards due to their pathetic conditions and attitudes. It's going to nightmarish before there's even a hint of teamwork between all of us not just me, you, and Kakashi. "

Naruto frowned but agreed with her view point. It made sense politically but in real life, as they had proven the first time around, it was a disaster. He inclined his head to the woman-girl who he knew but did not know. "Think we'll pass the test?" She snorted "There's no way we _can't_. We have the Uchiha so we aren't allowed to play fair and possibly fail. We will pass no matter how much we should or shouldn't." Naruto grimaced as he began to lay out plans for the future and possible ideas to go over in regards to Madara. She was right, but that did not mean he had to like it.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Nine: Team Chibi Seven

A/N: I felt like I've been neglecting this story so I pulled on my big girl panties and watched episode four so many times to get the basic script that my eyes were redder than a Sharingan's. Now as you may or may not know, and by now you should, there's a reviewer based poll going on that will decide who gets Kagome; Kakashi or Naruto? Right now only Sugar0o(sorry if I got it wrong) has voted and Kakashi is winning.

Naruto: Wha?

Sin: While I favor Naruto simply because the romance would be easier and add the fact there is not one love interest of his I don't dislike. However personal opinion aside I'll write as the votes tell me to do so. So Vote!

As both Kagome and Naruto knew Kakashi, they quickly got comfortable, ignoring their now curious and shiny new teammates. Naruto had still managed to form a crush on Sakura and form a grudge against Sasuke, for being treated like the gods gift to man and woman kind, despite being raised by Kakashi. So that he was ignoring them so completely, much like one would pay no head to a speck of dust, made the pink and black duo incredibly uneasy. Kagome not paying attention to them at all, despite Sasuke's best socially inept efforts, was quite normal. In her, admittedly fractured, reasoning they were not above plant level in intelligence so she refused to waste her time talking to something lower on the food chain than a _plant_. The reason she had formed this opinion was that she had thought out who was likely to be on her team and so tried to get to know them better. It had been a horrible experience for the woman-child and she had no wish to repeat it.

Sakura had only wanted to talk about her "Sasuke-kun!", and then dragged her to the Fangirl Underworld to participate in a secret silent auction on the obsession's possessions that had been stolen. Though she had discovered an easy way to make fantastical amounts of money off of a **used toothpick**, she still looked upon the day as some sort of specialized torture only Ibiki-san and Anko could and should be able to pull off. After that disaster she tried Sasuke, knowing since he had made it very clear where he wanted her in his life that it was highly likely. It had been the worse of the two, there was no money exchanging hands after all, for all the non-emotive boy wanted to speak of was of how much he hated his brother and how he was going to kill him etcetera. She washed her hands of the two on those days. Kagome saw no reason to try and make nice again till they grew up enormously.

"So Kagome why is Sasuke staring at you like you're the chocolate cake he wants to devour?" She winced at his comparison but parried back "Why does Hinata stalk you and strip you naked with her Byakugan to ogle your body?" "Ehhh? S-s-strip?" "What the hell do you think she's doing? Innocently looking for her lost lucky kunai?" "B-b-but she told me-!" "By the Lord Ganesha's tusks you are so clueless." Regardless of being a Shinto miko, Ganesha was a God after her own heart being the 'Remover of Obstacles and Deva of Intellect and Wisdom' and Kagome saw no problems in cross-worshiping. "Sorry Kagome, I kinda forgot Hinata was like this again?" Naruto twittered at her while nervously rubbing the back of his neck. She waved a languorous hand at him "Maa, maa, it's no problem Naruto. Hey do you still remember English?" Naruto scrunched his face into his Seriously Thinking Hard Face™.

"Eh is this right? Man this is so convenient! No one else knows how to speak this right?" "Ja." She nodded with a foxy grin, making the other two feel completely left out and out of the loop. Sasuke was brooding on an even more intense level than usual since Naruto was doing something _he_ could not and was spending time with _his_ Kagome! "So Kagome why the hell does Sasuke have this monster crush on you?" She grimaced as he had presented her with rotten fruit; she would prefer the rotten fruit. "Well here I was one day when I came across a crying Chibi Sasuke, so I comforted the tyke thinking it was harmless you know? Next thing I know he comes up and says "I will rebuild my Clan with you." So I slap the hell out of him for being such a sexist. Then next thing I know I'm the favorite in the polls for being the next Mrs. Sasuke Uchiha." Naruto could not help the laughter that escaped him, and he fell to the floor gasping for air.

Kakashi chose just that moment to open the door, doing a much better job at repressing his mirth "Maa, maa that's quite interesting Kagome." He turned a page of his scandalous orange book. Naruto pretended to look betrayed "Kagome how could you?" She shrugged "He listened in on your lessons. Honestly like I could stop him. You ready to go since you've had your nap Kakashi?" He looked up and gave her an eye smile. "Meet me on the roof." And he was gone in a puff of chakra smoke. Naruto huffed; did he have to leave him and Kagome alone with Team Chibi Seven? "Damn dramatic pervert. You good to go Kagome?" It was so very odd to be so close to the woman-child he had only known for a few short hours, but he guessed remembering growing up with Kagome did make it a little hard to think of her as anything as other than his best friend.

"Sure Naruto. You gonna walk up?" "Yeah. Oi! See you two on the roof!" He hopped out of the window and began to leisurely walk up the wall of the Academy. Naruto watched fascinated as Kagome followed in his choice of exit, free falling before pink flaming chariot wheels came into existence on the outside of each of her ankles. He looked down at the two gaping, below him at the window, at the flying girl before catching sight of him and switching to gaping at him instead. Naruto ignored them with ease and resumed his leisurely pace, so leisurely it was Kakashi worthy, and touched the roof about the same time as Kagome. He smirked at Kakashi, after knowing his sensei for so long reading his stunned surprise was easy.

Quicker than the Chidori he was famed for, Kakashi whipped out his Sharingan to analyze the constructs. They were made completely of Kagome's energy, whatever _that_ was, and by the gods was it breathtaking. Idly he wondered if she could possible repair his father's chakra sword, since the constructs distantly reminded him of the fabled sword. When he heard two sets of feet pounding up the stairs he slipped his hitai-ate back over his Sharingan and he made himself appear to be relaxed and casual as Kagome deactivated her ability. It also called to his amused attention the way Kagome had incorporated her hitai-ate into her outfit, it was exactly as Zabuza Momochi had worn his when they had fought in Wave trailing black ends and all. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kagome and Naruto sit back to back as they flopped to the floor.

His other two students burst onto the scene panting from exertion, something that made his lips twitch downwards for just a moment at their current pathetic state. Kakashi felt the familiar black hate rise up in him again at the sight of the would be defector, and contemplated killing the boy. It would solve so many problems, however Itachi- he glanced down as a pebble hit his leg. Kagome waggled a finger at him; apparently he was acting out of character. Deliberately he eye smiled for a second to reassure her, before going blank. "Alright. Why don't you introduce yourselves one at a time." Sakura interrupted the lazy sounding man. "Introduce ourselves? What are we supposed to say?" Kakashi shrugged negligently. "Things you like. Things you hate. Dreams for the future, hobbies, things like that." And he crossed his arms. Again Sakura piped up. "Why don't you tell us about you, so we can see how it's supposed to work?" Kakashi pointed to himself, an imperceptible smirk on his face. "Me? I'm Hatake Kakashi. Things I like and things I hate. I don't feel like telling you two. My dreams for the future, never really thought about it. As for my hobbies-" Innocently he looked up, delighting in their dumbfounded looks. "-I have lots of hobbies." Kagome and Naruto helplessly snickered at Kakashi while Sakura muttered "Well that was completely useless. All we learned was his name."

Kakashi fought not to grin "Okay your turn. Naruto you go first." Naruto gave his big brother his signature foxy grin, just as amused as he. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like instant ramen, Kagome, Konoha, Iruka-sensei, and my aniki." Kakashi gave a low happy hum at the last bit. "Things I hate are the three minutes you have to wait to heat the water in the ramen cup, depressing or brooding bastards, Tobi, and the Three Old People. Oh and Sai's exempt from the depressing or brooding bastards category." He scratched the back of his head in thought. "My dreams for the future are to become Hokage to protect my precious people and to stop **that**. Eh, my hobbies are training, fuinjutsu, participating in the Anbu prank war, and hanging out with my aniki and Kagome." The last was spontaneous, but he remembered it was true. Kakashi's happy hum, something Kagome would call a purr by now, got a little louder at the hobbies. It was so very good to be with his makeshift family, even with the addition of Kagome.

"Alright. Next." Sakura perked up and put on what she hoped was a winning smile. "My name is Haruno Sakura. What I like, uh, I mean the person I like-" She glanced to her 'Sasuke-kun!' "Uh, my hobby is, uh" She giggled as she stared at the moody boy "My dream for the future is-" She gave a shrill squeal as she looked to Sasuke again. Kakashi could already feel the headache coming on. "And things you hate?" Instantly she cried out petulantly "Naruto and Kagome!" and caused the duo to snort derisively. Kakashi fought not to act out of character as Kagome had reminded him, while he turned to the Uchiha. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I hate a lot of things and I don't particularly like anything except Arasoi-san." He glanced to Kagome, who ignored him, before his gaze turned black. "What I have is not a dream because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan." He shot Kagome what he thought was a sultry look, which it was _not_ and made the two time travelers fight back growls, before going back to murderous. "And I'm going to destroy a certain someone." Naruto and Kakashi fought back mocking laughter. Even when Itachi had been terminally ill, coughing up blood, and hardly able to move without pain Sasuke could not lay a finger on him that Itachi did not permit.

Kakashi relaxed before speaking "Good. You're each **unique** and have your own ideas. We have our first mission tomorrow. It's a task the five of us will do together. It's a survival exercise. This is not like your previous training." He gave an amused chuckle "Well if I tell you the answer you're not going to like it." He singsonged to Sakura's query. "Of the twenty-seven graduates only nine will actually be accepted as genin. The other eighteen will be weeded out and sent back to the Academy. In other words this is a make it or break it, pass fail test and the chance you'll fail is at least sixty-six percent. See? Didn't I tell you, you wouldn't like it? Be at the designated training ground at five a.m., and bring your shinobi gear. That's it, you're dismissed. Oh I suggest you don't eat breakfast or you'll puke." As Kakashi was about to leave the Uchiha spoke. "Wait. Arasoi-san didn't introduce herself as you required she did." Kakashi was curious as to what Kagome would say, so he leaned back again and waved to Kagome for her to start. She harrumphed before crossing her arms "My name is Arasoi Kagome. Hnn… Things I like and things I hate huh? I like Sesshomaru, Naruto, Kakashi, InuYasha, Sango, Shippo, Miroku, Kirara, and oden. And I hate the sexist bastard over there-" She pointed to Sasuke "Naraku who now resides in Hell by my hand-" A ferocious grin spilt her face, and it sent chills down her two ignorant teammates' spines. "Fangirls, spiders, centipedes, and the Big Three." She let the grin fade as she closed her eyes in contemplation. "My goals for the future, never really thought about it but I guess I'll help Naruto with his dreams. I don't have anything better to do than help out my friend." Her eyes flew open and more than hint of madness crept into those sapphire depths. "My hobbies are sutra making, experimenting and tinkering, and doing my own private and highly classified-" To signal to the two she knew she tapped her left eye and then held up nine fingers extremely quickly. They looked amused and ill at ease at being her subjects. "Research. I'm famous for the CPI (Civilian Paper Incident) a year or two ago, and those were only the beginnings of my research." Everyone shuddered and remembered the explosions that had rocked Konoha to it's foundations on that day. The crate the ten or so tinkered tags had been in, had been stored in warehouse so there had been no deaths but a couple had been made into lucky charms that were sold in the market. It had not been pretty. " Ready to go?"

She got a nod from Naruto and an eye smile from Kakashi, before they took to the rooftops. She formed her wheels and flew after them without glancing back at the two wannabe shinobi and kunoichi. Perhaps they would mature between now and tomorrow? She snorted quietly to herself. Who exactly was she trying to kid? 'Better bring all my sutras and experimental tags. Even the volatile ones. I'm going to need them with these two on my team. And at least I'll finally be able to let loose on Kakashi, though I better go over there early to review with Naruto what he can do now and what he can't do tomorrow. Danzo is already eyeing Naruto like he's a prime breeding stud and Kakashi as well. No need to make him salivate over those two even more than he is already.' 


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine: Spell Slinging

A/N: Yo! The polls in who gets Kagome have been updated! Kakashi is in the lead with Two Votes, and Naruto and Threesome (this was suggested) are tied for second with one vote!

Naruto: I'm no better than a threesome?

Sin: Anyways today for Sugar0o and Phoenix, for being so nice and supportive and idea giving, there is KAKASHI/KAGOME FLUFF! And by the way Kagome's outfit is a carbon copy of Cloud's during Advent Crisis but without a wolf motif if my description sucks. This was supposed to be up yesterday but honesty this hell spawned chapter is a nightmare of epic proportions. There's a link to her armor, skirt and Renegade on account! Oh yeah the song is, - Lala's Song (not mine)! Yeesh this thing is almost 4,000 words! I'm so good to y'all. Now be good sheep and go to my profile and vote on one of my ideas!

Kagome yawned as she walked to the men's shared apartment. Despite it being seven in the morning she knew those two lazy time travelers were still abed, not that she blamed them. She wanted to go back to sleep herself. Kagome just wished that she had not been designated as their damn alarm clock. Soon enough she was at the apartment opening their door, which was getting rusty since she was the only one to actually use it. Kagome shucked off her combat boots, causing the long flowing half trench coat that covered her left side to flutter with the sudden movement. She reached behind to grasp Red Wand and Renegade, which were affixed to a custom designed and made harness courtesy of her bored incarnations. The blood colored spear was the first to be put down followed by Renegade in it's deactivated form.

Renegade was a little longer in the shaft than Red Wand, a few inches, and the shaft itself was black with crimson grooving. On it's head was a thin, spiky, gear like the kind used in old fashioned clocks but much bigger. The weapon looked incomplete somehow, and it gave the impression it was not meant to be wielded like a shakujo or Bo staff. It was eerie as all of Kagome's weapons tended to be and it was terrifying too. Yet it did not terrify like Red Wand did. Red Wand inspired a primal, animalistic, instinctive terror that echoed down throughout millennia and was buried deep in the genetic code of humanity. Renegade inspired a more…sophisticated terror. Instead of instinctive terror, the incomplete weapon gave of the aura of the terror of the inevitable death. A fact all living things accepted, but fought against with all their might.

Shinobi always got so twitchy when she took a stroll with her weapons.

She went in, moving with the ease of long familiarity, and went to Kakashi's room first. Kakashi was the hardest to wake and keep awake so it was easier to go after the silvery-gray shinobi first. As she walked in, her long hair swayed in it's high ponytail like Sango had once done with her's but without the hair chops, she saw the man was sweating hard. She froze as he let out a miserable whimper and whispered in agony despite his heavy sleep "Otou-san…" It was that nightmare then. At least she had discovered over the years how to soothe the jaded man's dreams, despite how intimate it was. Firmly she quashed the lewd thoughts her baser instincts threw at her about the hapless man, for the infinite time.

Quietly she crawled into his bed and slid her lap under his head and began petting the sweaty, but still very silky, silvery-gray locks. At once he turned onto his side and curled into her, clutching at her like she was his only lifeline, a fearful sound escaping his unmasked lips. (Yes she had managed to get Kakashi comfortable enough to pull down the accursed thing with her and not just Naruto.) Kagome sighed as she continued threading her fingers through his hair, and steeled her nerves. This was not the Kakashi she had known for so long, yet still did, after all. She considered not doing it till a ragged sob escaped the man's lips, and she resolved her will. The man she knew, and still somehow knew, never deserved to be so racked with the images of his own personal Hell over and over till he woke up. So she opened her mouth and sang her lullaby.

"_Lacrimosa dies illa_

_Qua resurget ex favilla_

_Judicandus homo reus._

_Huic ergo parce, Deus:_

_Pie Jesu Domire_

_dona eis requim. Amen"_

It was a beautiful song, and it soothed the man inside the shinobi. She did not notice the blonde spikes that poked out from the frame of the entrance. Naruto, while feeling a slight jealous twinge, was grinning goofily at the sight before him. Kakashi's nightmares had never soothed for him despite his efforts. It was a happy sight for Naruto to see Kakashi sleep without these accursed nightmares. He grinned even wider when he saw a pink flush on Kagome's cheeks as she caught sight of him. She put a finger to her lips for his silence, before disengaging Kakashi from her trim waist. She gave a pained wince as he gave a pitiful whine, like a pup for it's erstwhile mother, as she climbed out of his bed. Naruto frowned, not understanding while she would leave if she did not wish to see Kakashi cry out for her in his sleep. Kagome walked by him into the kitchen, with Naruto studying her as he walked behind her.

"Why?" She froze in the motion of getting out a skillet, before moving again but jerkier than before his question. "Why do you think? He is a man and I am a woman in a child's body. Whether or not I find him attractive, it means he will see me as a child. Do you still feel Sakura is attractive?" Naruto recoiled, disgust evident on his face before he understood. No **wonder** Kagome had not acted beforehand or now. Kakashi would see her as a child and therefore would not see her as attractive. Naruto could see Kagome as attractive; she was about physically and mentally his age. And they did say after all "Love is friendship set afire." It would take something quite shocking for Kakashi to even begin to find her attractive.

Naruto watched as she flipped a pancake, yes he could find her attractive indeed and so could Kakashi with a nudge or two in the right direction. However Naruto was not sure if he wanted to give courting Kagome a shot or not, the impulse to see Kakashi fumble his way through a _romance_ and not a one night stand was strong. Naruto shrugged mentally, time for self reflection later. Now was the time for breakfast! "Naruto go get Kakashi." The spiky blonde felt tears fall waterfall style, it smelt so good and he had to go wake up the Cyclopes! 'So cruel Kagome!' he cried to himself in his mind. "Wait. I change my mind." He gave an internal fist pump "We need to discuss what jutsu you know, any kind of jutsu, weapons, summoning etcetera. People are going to watch the test today Naruto, talk about it, and tell others about it since the 'Last Uchiha' is in it. And you _cannot_ display Kage level abilities. I am assuming you made Rokudaime."

Naruto felt something in his heart squeeze at the thought she believed it was a forgone conclusion, like it was a forgone conclusion the Sun would rise in the morning. He had always had to prove he would make his dream a reality, no matter who it was, and for someone to believe without any proof was awe-inspiring. Instantly Kagome had made herself as one of the foremost of Naruto's precious people with that unwavering belief.

Naruto gave her a genuine, warm and proud smile before reciting his long list of techniques. "All Directions Shurikan, Big Ball Rasengan, Clone Body Blow, Clone Spinning Heel Drop, Combination Transformation, Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet, Frog Kata, Harem Technique, Mini Rasenshurikan, Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, Negative Emotions Sensing, New Sexy Technique, Nine-Tailed Fox Sonic Roar, One Thousand Years of Death, Pachinko Technique, Planetary Rasengan, Rasengan, Sage Art: Big Ball Rasengan, Sage Art: Many Ultra-Big Ball Spiraling Serial Spheres, Sage Art: Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan, Sage Mode, Sage Technique: Spiraling Serial Spheres, Sexy Technique, Shadow Clone Technique, Shadow Shurikan Technique, Spiraling Absorption Sphere, Spiraling Strife Sphere, Summoning Technique: Toads, Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer Technique, Tailed Beast Chakra Arms, Tailed Beast Rasengan, Torii Seal, Twin Rasengan, Typhoon Water Vortex Technique, Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan, Ultra-Many Spiraling Serial Spheres, Uzumaki formations, Uzumaki Naruto Combo, Uzumaki Naruto Two Thousand Combo, Wind Release: Rasengan, Wind Release: Rasenshurikan, and Wind Release: Toad Gun." Kagome looked quite impressed.

"Okay you can use any variation of clone techniques, nature manipulation only with no techniques, and All Directions Shurikan." Naruto felt his jaw drop at the unfairness, but he understood. "Hey Naruto? You have to sign a summoning contract to summon right?" "Duh Kagome!" "You signed yours in the future which no longer exists. Does that mean you can't summon anymore?" Naruto felt his horror show on his face at the **very important** fact Kagome had just raised. Quickly he bit his thumb before slamming down his hand on the table. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" The sprawling seal of summoning appeared on the table and with a pop of a chakra cloud a little orange toad with a vest appeared. "Yo! Naruto? You're alive?" Apparently Naruto was still contracted.

He gave Gamakichi the story of what happened and ordered the little toad to tell the rest of the toads at Mount Myōboku to keep their mouths shut on the news about the new summoner and time traveler. "Alright I'll tell Pops Naruto. Now who's this?" Kagome smirked and asked "Know what a miko is Toad?" Gamakichi's usually burnt orange skin paled to light orange. "W-what? Miko! Pops said your kind isn't supposed to exist outside the old scary stories told to tadpoles!" Kagome gave a grin to make the Kyuubi jealous "Sorry Gamakichi, fully fledged miko standing right here. But no worries! I _like_ youkai!" The little toad said nothing since he fainted in fright and subsequently poofed away in fright.

Naruto gave Kagome a deadpan look, while she only grinned and shrugged. Scaring youkai was fun after all.

Naruto dismissed it and began to dig into his pancakes, with a tsunami of syrup and butter on them, and fresh fruit. Kagome did the same, and Kakashi eventually woke up to the delicious smells teasing his questing nose and was stunned to find a scrumptious bounty instead of ramen. Quietly he thanked Kagome for the meal before digging in himself. His sleep had been mysteriously peaceful after the standard nightmare about his father committing suicide. To have such a restful sleep was highly unusual for the former Anbu captain time traveler. While Kakashi mused on what caused such a restful sleep, Naruto finished his breakfast. "Hey aniki, Kagome and I found out I'm still contracted to the Toads." Shocked, Kakashi fought to not choke on his fresh fruit as he looked incredulously to a smug Naruto. "The Toads still remembered me so you should summon Pakkun Kakashi." Still shocked Kakashi numbly complied with a muffled "Kuchiyose no Jutsu." as he slammed his hand down on the table. One puff of chakra smoke later, and the vest and hitai-ate wearing pug was sitting on the breakfast table. "Yo!" Pakkun held up a paw in greeting before his jaw dropped "Kakashi? You're alive?" He bit Kakashi's hand when he received no response, effectively shocking Kakashi back into reality.

"Pakkun…" He growled menacingly with a hint of a snarl on his pretty boy face. The pug let go and received the story he had missed when Gamakichi came along. The ninken was awe-struck that his contract holder had survived his idiocy when a piece of bacon was presented to him. Without hesitation he chomped down on the bacon before looking at who held it to him. Pakkun gruffed "And who are you?" "Arasoi Kagome. Resident tinker, mechanic, scientist, miko, explosives amateur, and manufacturer at your service Pakkun." She smiled as she shook his paw. "My, your pads are so soft for a ninken."

Kakashi and Naruto groaned as Pakkun's eyes welled with tears at someone _actually _noticing. Pakkun animatedly began to describe his pawcare to the fascinated looking Kagome as Kakashi and Naruto snuck out to get dressed. On Kagome's suggestion Pakkun left for his home to inform his pack of the situation while Kagome wrote a note explaining she was going to the training grounds. She re-equipped Red Wand and Renegade, and then pulled back on her combat boots feeling her blonde incarnation's vague embarrassment at being copied race through her psyche. She took the shinobi exit, also known as the window, and began her flight to the training grounds at a fast pace.

Soon enough she spotted the two she was forced to call her teammates gaping at her, and dispelled her constructs a few inches above the ground. She began some katas to warm up, ignoring the duo's demands of how she made her constructs, advancing to increasingly more complex and awkward kata as she went. Even the duo eventually got the message to warm up and started their own stretching. After warming up her muscles from the kata her silvered haired incarnation had shown her, she began to work through a couple of kata multiple times with each of her two weapons. Five minutes after she stopped the lazy brothers appeared in a display of Shunshin. Mockingly she applauded as she drawled "Can you two go **anywhere** without being late?" Naruto grinned, he was clad in a perfect copy of his father's combat clothing courtesy of Kagome who wished to rub in everyone's faces that he was such a mini-Minato, and drawled back "No. You should know better by now Kagome!" "A girl can always dream Naruto. Ready to kick Kakashi's ass into next week?" Cue foxy grin. "Of course Kagome!" Kakashi sweat dropped at their blood thirsty enthusiasm and thought to himself 'That's not good…'

Quickly Kakashi rattled out a description of the bell test and it's restrictions. Sasuke and Sakura took to the surrounding foliage for cover while both Naruto and Kagome stayed where they were to begin with, grinning insanely. They glanced at their partner before murmuring in tandem "Let's go get him shall we?" Naruto rocketed forwards at insane levels of speed, Kagome secretly thought Minato had unknowingly passed down the Speed Release despite all evidence to the contrary, and said loudly "Soul Repressing Seal: Kai!" To Kagome it felt like a mountain or five had rolled off her back as her soul's full power was unleashed across the surroundings in a silent wave. The shinobi who had been watching from the beginning shivered, while Naruto still engaged Kakashi in a fierce Taijutsu battle with half a dozen clones. The two locked in battle knew better than to pause and watch power displays, in the Fourth Shinobi War it was so common it was seen as often as jutsu. Slowly Kagome drew Renegade, giving off KI, and slipped into a crouch.

Renegade burst into life, eight energy spikes emerged from above the right side of the gear, three semi-circles and one sphere appeared in the gear's opening, and a scythe's blade that was broken into seven pieces of energy appeared as Kagome whispered "I'm right here." With a silent fwoom her energy armor, horns, and free standing skirt appeared. With a bellow she leapt at Kakashi, swiping at his middle to cut the bells loose while Naruto distracted him.

Though her combat state was meant for war it had a severe, in the right circumstances fatal, drawback. When she donned her armor she exchanged her miko abilities for these as long as she maintained her armor and weapon. But this set of skills were so very versatile in comparison to a miko's, her incarnation had not been content to be the jack of all trades in weaponry but also spell craft too. She laughed as her Renegade cleaved through a Kawarimi log, it was so much fun! Naruto shot the woman child who was his partner a goofy grin, defiantly deadly and attractive alright!

Their heads whipped to the lowing of a dying animal, or Sakura, and Naruto muttered "Genjutsu again?" before rocketing off with Kagome at his heels. This exercise was about teamwork and they would have to pull it off for the two slackers. They paused on a shared branch, watching as Sasuke tried to fool Kakashi into a trap and then launch a wimpy Fireball Jutsu at him. In another lifetime this would impress a Kakashi who had not seen war for years, but a war veteran fresh from the field saw it as pathetic. When the Shinobi Nations had united secrecy was done away with to try and up the survival rate, and genin could easily launch off one elemental jutsu per element at least. And that was the 'loser/dobe' off the graduating class. One lousy Fireball at low heat and not properly formed due to a lack of instruction was not impressive to Kakashi, but to the shinobi watching it was. One Head Hunter Jutsu, to Kakashi's everlasting pleasure at being able to do so to the Uchiha, and Sasuke was down for the count.

As Kakashi pulled out his precious Icha Icha, Kagome threw down her extremely volatile experimental tag and started to leg it with Naruto. Sasuke would be saved by luck, being almost completely underground, as the innocently fiendish tag let loose a perfect circle of destruction at what had been at Kakashi's feet. The tag had eaten approximately eight feet into the ground in a three foot diameter by Kakashi's guess. 'That was close…' however he was not in the clear yet, as Kagome stood straight and held out the hand not holding onto Renegade and barked out her spell's name "Gon Bolg!" Kakashi's eye widened to a nearly impossible degree as an enormous boulder hung suspended over his head suddenly, and pieces of it broke off and began to fall to the earth at an impossibly fast pace right at his head. He managed to escape the giant fragment, but many cuts and gashes littered his body all over that oozed a bit of blood caused from the smaller and faster fragments.

Sasuke had watched all of this with wide eyes as he was unable to move, his face as black as soot, as his cold love had caused such destruction and landed several hits on the untouchable Jounin as he could not. How was that possible? What justu had that been? How had that tag caused such a perfect circle of explosive power?

Kakashi glared fiercely at the scythe wielding, armor wearing, spell slinging, tag making, stylish in black partner of Naruto's. That had _hurt_, **scorched** the Icha Icha, and Kakashi did not enjoy pain unlike the author of his books. "Kagome…Naruto…you two are going to **pay** for this." And the infuriated Jounin threw a blizzard of kunai and Shurikan at the grinning duo that promptly took off. Kakashi sped after the hellions intent on revenge. Kakashi ignored how Uchiha his thoughts sounded with a denial and repressing skill many shinobi would give a finger for.

~Later~

Sakura squirmed against the stump she was tied to. It was totally unfair that she was tied to the stump even though it was thanks to Naruto and Kagome they had passed by the skin of their teeth. Kagome had cast only her lowest spells; she was not trying to kill him after all, feeling only a slight drain that was comparative to Naruto summoning a shadow clone while Naruto took care of the close combat with an occasional energy disk meant to slash from Kagome. The energy slash was naturally caused after she had slashed Renegade about five or seven times and it spun outwards seeking the enemy, plus it was pretty accurate without the Kawarimi getting in the way. With the combination of her spell slinging and Naruto's pounding Kakashi had slipped up for just a moment after she had cast the light element spell Lei Zas for Naruto to take the three bells, which he then gave to the other three, therefore passing the team. Kakashi was still simmering over the scorch marks, water and soil stains, unidentifiable dark sludge and bleached impact marks, and the tearing from the small tornados and the other various elements that Kagome had called into being for a moment or two.

Honestly it had been fun for Kagome, she got to use all her low level spells including a Ul Repth to heal Kakashi, see her experimental tag work, and fight a full out brawl! "So much fun Kakashi. We're going to do this a lot yes?" She received an evil eye smile for her enthusiasm "Of course Kagome. Since you and Naruto are so much more advanced than Sasuke and Sakura, for the moment you will take endurance training with Gai. She grinned and Naruto wept. How was he supposed to plot out an epic assassination of the Three Old Fogies if he was running from the spandex wearing, Youth screaming zealots? And _of course_ it was not hypocritical of Naruto to call them zealots when he worshiped the color Orange and the Ramen with a fervor the infidels could never hope to comprehend. Naruto sighed, he thought when he was a time traveler he would be so epically badass and be nearly omnipotent with his far reaching schemes that would make Danzo weep in jealous rage.

But here he was slaving away as a **genin** _again_ with Kakashi lording over his reinstated power and Kagome plotting something malicious with those sutra and tags and bombs and experiments and human research and tinkering with things supposed to be sacrosanct… Kagome was very, very scary now that he thought a bit farther than her good looks and personality. Idly he wondered again if he should pursue such a dangerous kunoichi who admitted she had voices in her head readily, seemed to be an insane scientist with far too much time and resources for anyone's good, and was so terrifying with all that metaphysical stuff she liked pulling out of her invisible hat to stun all those surrounding her. Naruto shook his head as he started wandering into dangerous territory when he started to think just how much food he could bum off her if he told her Danzo had several Sharingan implanted into his bad eye and arm… Though it would be a fitting end for the old war hawk that Kagome jokingly called the 'Pimpin' Master' whenever she felt snappy. Naruto fought the urge to go down the Uchiha path of vengeance, knowing it only lead to weird snake bastards with freaky long tongues interested in giving unsuspecting young boys cursed hickeys.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten: Researching D-Ranks

A/N: Why wasn't this updated sooner? Because it was a very Sinfully lazy weekend that's why. Just one little plot escaped from my head, along with two of it's compatriots, so go take a look at my poll and Vote. Plus see what you think about Soothsayer, FanFiction itself inspired the idea. Kudos to anyone who figures out why. Now moving onto the Rewind matters. The polls are in for this week Kakashi: 3, Naruto: 1, and Threesome: 1.

Oh yeah you lazy people who never bothered to guess what Kagome's name means, it means 'Strife'. Very loosely in Japanese of course, now if there's any native or non-native speakers who know better please go head and tell me. After all I am NOT Japanese, so hopefully I didn't butcher it too badly…

Kagome stretched in a sinfully luxurious manner, the outfit she had copied from her blonde incarnation giving hints at what lay beneath but revealed as much as a nun's robes. It drew the unwilling attention of her male teammates who were supposed to be painting the fence while she worked over a foldable table on her research. Honestly she had been working on Kakashi's eye troubles since she had gotten the man to tell her about his transplant. The only thing that stumped her was that she needed to see an active Sharingan, preferably in a Uchiha or close, so she could begin to construct a manmade 'tenketsu point' that had mutated in the Uchiha line. The mutation made the Sharingan a masterwork of genetics, something that made her incarnations and her sit up and pay attention to since three out of four had been 'worked on'. The problem was that Kakashi's natural eyes had enhanced vision as he was a Hatake, but his tenketsu points was so different from a Uchiha's that the command to deactivate the Sharingan was not reaching the eye. She was so close too…but until her teammate activated his, her work was at a standstill. She turned her attention to what she affectionately called the Nine Lives Project. She had observed what the Kyuubi did in it's repairs of Naruto's body and the so called 'Uzumaki Stamina' and had asked herself the question of whether or not it was possible to recreate the effect in non-jinchuriki and non-Uzumaki. It had been possible that she would have never started the Nine Lives Project or the Dog Eye Project, the name she had given to Kakashi's case, if the years between saving Naruto and becoming a genin had not been so _slow_. Suddenly, like an Acme Anvil to the head, a new research possibility struck her so hard she staggered for a moment. That was it! Now she had something to _do_ other than the monotonous training and D-Ranks from Lucifer Morningstar himself!

Kakashi and Naruto valiantly turned their attention away from the slightly sweating miko as she unconsciously bit her lower lip; honestly she should not be so darn cute! Kakashi buried his silver head into his orange book, trying to not think of the twelve year old as attractive. What was wrong with him! Naruto on the other hand was grinning like the fox who had stolen the grapes from the crow, or in this case scarecrow. Why Kakashi denied himself the chance of love Naruto did not understand, but the idea that someone would love and accept _all_ of him made him want to do something very stupid. Like challenge Kakashi to a duel for the right to court her, which was not productive to finishing the D-Ranked mission of painting this absurdly long fence. Naruto then greeted his forehead with his palm in a facepalm, he had a army of Shadow Clones for Ramen's sake! He moved one hand into the seal, after doing it so long he barely needed even one hand, and called out "Shadow Clone!" And about fifteen of him appeared and groaned as they saw the fence. One of him called out "Damnit boss! Why can't you one-up lazybones over the girl later huh? Like, on a C-Rank for instance. A really action packed, movie worthy C-Rank full of S-Rank nukenin and grateful women." Naruto ignored himself and walked over to Kagome ignoring the black glare from the Uchiha, the view of Hell in Kakakshi's lone eye that peeked over his Icha Icha, and the annoyance in Sakura's. "Whatcha doing Kagome?" He looked the feverishly writing and drawing miko, and looked down to the sprawling mess in English. Likely it was written in the language to prevent others from snatching it. Naruto caught only a couple of words; Orochimaru, rebirth, control, seal, possibilities, statistics, pure and impure, and something about shikigami and replacement. She looked at him with a happy look in her glinting eyes, somehow reminding him of Kabuto when he used Impure World Resurrection. The insanely brilliant lunatic scientist who had played god had been great in his own twisted way, but Kagome surpassed him in the sheer craziness of her plots. He only remembered her one day muttering about "Twelve kilos of pure refined sugar in one grain…" before everything turned funky. After he woke up Konoha had said the Orange Blur had tie-dyed all of Konoha while vengefully pranking the hell out of anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path. People still cowered in fear whenever they saw a fast moving piece of orange.

He then connected the dots she and her four voices had drawn. She was going to screw around with the Nidaime's Impure Resurrection for the hell of it! It nearly made him faint, but then he looked at what she had written about the command tags Kakashi and he had skimmed over that controlled the revived people. She hypothesized that as long as Orochimaru, or anyone, could not implant the command the revived could do whatever they pleased. And that there was a very good possibility that she could make a nullifier for the command tag… Honestly the woman was crazed, brilliant, but crazed. It seemed as if she had finally gotten sick of all the D-Ranking they had been doing and was turning all her boredom onto a problem that afflicted shinobi grave desecration everywhere. Naruto turned his attention to the now abandoned projects to see what else she and her four cronies had cooked up. He shuddered at the Nine Lives Project, the image of Tsunade with his regenerative powers and her crazy mitosis seal was brought to mind, but Dog Eye intrigued him. Even after Kakashi had gotten Kamui, the Sharingan still ate through his reserves like he did through ramen after a famine. The ability to deactivate it would be perfection. Nearly as good as offing Danzou, Homura, and Koharu. Or giving Danzou as an experiment to Kagome. Either would be a great day in his book.

Kagome looked like she was still scribbling down her ideas, so Naruto took a look at the fence. What do you know, his clones had already finished. The memories of painting suddenly slammed into his head like a Tsunade fist to the head; very painful he would assure you. "Oww! Man they were pissed to be created to paint a fence weren't they? Hey Kakashi! Let's go get a C-Rank!" He was met with the Hatake Stare of Utter Hell on Earth, and he shivered at thought of how it must have been before he could only have one eye out in the open. The Hatake in question was not sure why he felt Naruto deserved to be gutted very slowly for draping himself all over Kagome, but he felt like ripping his little adopted brother's head off. He just glared his Hatake glare and took to the roofs, Sakura and Sasuke following like the good obedient minions they were, with Naruto staying behind to help Kagome reseal all her research. Kakashi mentally screamed at himself for getting so upset over the twelve year old girl, _ohmygodhewasapedophile_, as he practically flew over the rooftops with his pink and blue duo. Sasuke had been demoted to blue after Kagome had commented with all innocence how much he looked like 'Weasel-san' and he had sobbed over it.

Soon enough they were in the Hokage's office, after entering the shinobi way, and the five of them were awaiting their next assignment. Luckily Naruto did not have to pretend to regress to twelve in order to get their ill-fated Wave escort mission again. Kakashi mulled over the déjà vu, watching Kagome and Naruto discuss in English the Wave mission from the future's past, forgetting to pull out his memorized Icha Icha. Sakura and Sasuke seemed to have bonded over being put to the wayside by the way they were conversing over torture methods. Sarutobi simply puffed on his pipe, watching the odd dynamics of Team Seven, resting on his laurels over the paperwork being finished. Some days he felt like he was missing several pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that made up the trio of Kakashi, Kagome, and Naruto but he consoled himself with the fact even that was more than ninety nine point nine of the shinobi population had. What had happened to looking underneath the underneath? Noticing the blatant fact Naruto's blood tests matched Minato's and the fact he was the martyr's damn clone? He shook himself from his revere as Tazuna the bridge builder sauntered in smelling of copious amounts of sake. Kakashi's and Naruto's noses must be burning from the smell.

Team Seven watched as Tazuna insulted Naruto, which he ignored, and then Kagome which was most decidedly not ignored. Naruto and his clones had to hold back Kagome from gutting or decapitating Tazuna, and Kakashi from forming and shoving a Chidori into the drunken sot's rib cage. Honestly the man had no sense of self preservation with insulting shinobi and kunoichi, even if they were from the relatively friendly Konoha. Tazuna escaped with his life and health when they were sent to pack for the long escort mission. Sarutobi sighed and emptied his pipe, looking mournfully at the healthy vapor producing power to help with his nicotine addiction that had been given to him by Kagome. Women were going to enslave the male half of the population someday, instead of just dominating them whenever they felt the need for it. Tsunade was proof enough as was Kagome. The urge to hit the sake was legendary in it's intensity, but he remembered the talk Kagome had given to him about 'purges' and 'catheters' and shivered in fear.

~~Back at Home Sweet Home~~

Kagome pulled out another set of explosive tags and assorted combat sutra. She wondered if she should take the mini torture set Anko had given her, but she thought it would probably be overkill and instead packed a surgical kit. She pulled out a notepad and started checking off all of her supplies, weapons, non-cardboard food, and gear. It took awhile but in the end it only needed six sealing scrolls, and by any Gods you worshipped did she love those things, which only required a small black pack. She color coordinated each scroll with it's contents. A red scroll for her throwing weapons, tags, and sutra; a white scroll for assorted camping gear, clothing, and leisure items; a green scroll for medical supplies and things; a orange scroll for the food that was not cardboard; a blue scroll for shinobi gear and traps; and a black scroll for her research and notes. All so very colorful and easily to identify, with the added bonus of being set to her blood and ki. Scrolls and screwing with reality made life much easier as Kagome had found out as a kunoichi. Though she wondered if the zanbatou Naruto had mention Zabuza wielding would be suitable for Kakashi, since Naruto had mention he had used one in the Fourth Shinobi War. She shrugged; Kakashi would say something to her or Naruto if he wanted it. If he did not it would be hers. Simple right?

Oh if only it would be that easy. But then again what was ever as easy as it looked?


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven: Shooting Stars

A/N: Wow. I'm honestly surprised by the latest polls Kakashi: 4, Threesome: 2, and Naruto: 1. Sheesh no one likes a NarutoXKagome huh? Good thing Phoenix gave me ideas on how to make a nice happily ever after for our favorite blonde jinchuriki. Now everyone chant with Sin "It's THE WAVE ARC!" Yes people flip out over the fact we're progressing away from Konoha! Now LISTEN UP! There is something you must vote on! Should I let Zabuza and/or Haku live? Or should I just go cannon? Remember VOTE! Or for the people, who don't get it, leave your opinion in a review!

Kagome looked down from her vantage point, about one hundred feet up in the air, and looked for her team by the gate. Team Seven was unpredictable at best with the odd political combination that made up her team, and she did not know how the Wave mission would go with her foreknowledge. Though the knowledge Naruto had given her was vague at best since he had focused more on the dramatic parts than the other less juicier bits. She spotted Sakura and Sasuke, and thought she saw Naruto and Kakashi walking towards them with Tazuna no where to be seen. That last bit was nice, honestly the drunk deserved to be dipped in a batch of Sesshomaru's poison after saying those horrible things. She crossed her arms in the air, huffing her irritation at the thought of the bridge builder. To relax herself she pictured Koga's wolves, ravenous wolves from chasing after him, and feeding Tazuna to the happy wolves. Kagome gave a happy smile and let loose a villainous sounding giggle as she was suspended in the air by her wheels. She got so happy by the image she lost control of her upright position, and ended up hanging upside down with her half trench coat somehow resisting gravity to stay where it was supposed to. She giggled some more at her incarnation's design, wondering how the blonde mechanic had managed to design their outfit so.

Kakakshi gave another look in every direction he could think of, looking for his wayward teammate and fellow time traveler. She was later than Naruto and he for sanity's sakes! Somehow he felt this was some sort of divine comedy he was playing in, and likely he was knowing his luck. He glanced at Naruto, who looked as if he was going to try the Thousand Years of Pain on Sasuke, and wondered if he should ask him if he knew where she was. Then it occurred to him she could fly, and he looked up. He felt a sweatdrop form on his face as he saw the giggling Kagome who was suspended upside down in the air. Kakashi wondered how long she had been up there. He felt his eyes widen as her wheels disappeared and she started to fall. Kakashi was so stunned by this most unusual development he did not move in time to prevent himself from becoming her landing pad. With a loud smack she collided into him, startling everyone, and she was unharmed while he was face down in the ground feeling much pain. Naruto had the gall to laugh at him like it was the funniest thing since the banana peel act, earning him a glare so vicious that the plants surrounding him started to wilt. The other three edged away from the insane trio and Tazuna whispered to Sasuke "Is it always like this?" The Uchiha gave him a black glare, not liking that Kagome was being so familiar with the dobe and old pervert, and scoffed at the drunk not even deigning to give him the 'honor' of being a recipient of the infamous Uchiha Hnn. Sakura felt the urge to give Naruto a bump to remember, but reigned in the urge remembering that the only reason Sasuke had been deemed Rookie of the Year was that Naruto _let_ him. She signed at her other three teammates, feeling quite useless and out of place. Though she could actually start training seriously, yet that would cut into Sasuke-kun watching time so she remained a Fangirl.

Kagome looked at her valorous friend who had broken her fall, feeling happy that he would do such a selfless thing, though unsure why he did not just _catch_ her. She hopped off Kakashi's back and helped the still stunned jounin off the ground. She gave him a smile before linking arms with Naruto like a strolling couple would, and beginning to walk in Wave's direction, questioning him on improving her storage seals. Everyone was unsure who to follow, but followed herd instincts and followed her lead with Sakura forcefully pulling along a reluctant Tazuna. Kakashi managed to shake himself out his stunned status and caught up to the idly strolling Naruto and Kagome, joining in with their conversation on sealing. "So is it possible to store something like lightning?" Kagome asked the resident lightning expert. Kakashi gave a hum and thought about it "Actual lightning would be extremely difficult to seal, due to it travels so fast and that it is much more likely to stick you than the seal. Now lightning chakra on the other hand is very easy to store, it powers all of equipment." "Huh. So could you store like a Chidori into a scroll and open it at an opponent at a later date?" The shinobi looked at her, stunned by her off the wall thinking. "I don't know Kagome." That was something they would have to try after they got done with Zabuza most certainly. Kagome went quiet, her eyes unfocused as she discussed something with her incarnations, and thought about the possibilities of something like a Rasengan that was premade and ready to go at any time. Kakashi and Naruto started a shinobi game with Sakura and Sasuke when it was apparent that Kagome was not going to be all there for awhile.

The shinobi game was similar to I Spy but it differed in the fact that the players were supposed to spot something without any clues by noting body language and things that would catch the eye or look so unnoticeable that it is noticeable. For instance Naruto spotted a squirrel high in the trees, the others would have to see how he was positioned, where his eyes were pointed, vocal tone, movement in that direction, and all sorts of endless amounts of information gathering. It was fun for shinobi and was frequently used to help teach people to be observant and improve skills on noticing someone's body language and concealing yours. Anbu often used tiny bugs or perhaps a small discoloration in some paint, or anything else tiny and hard to spot to train recruits and keep their own skills sharp. Obviously neither Sakura nor Sasuke could find Kakashi's and Naruto's targets, both of them were considered high Kage level and higher, but they did start to narrow down their guesses to being somewhere close to their targets. It surprised them both, for they had forgotten just how _fast_ they could learn if given motivation and teaching, too accustomed to them either being close to par with them or so far below that they seemed like non-Aburame insects in comparison. It made them feel a bit slow that it had taken them this long to realize that there was still a chance to change Team Seven, to remember they did not have to kill Sasuke to ensure Orochimaru would never have the chance to twist him. If Sasuke knew he would be thanking whatever he prayed to that the dangerous people on his team had remembered they did not need to automatically commit homicide just yet.

Kagome was quite oblivious to the enlightenment going around like a bad cough, very absorbed in her blonde and silver hair incarnations' ideas on what she could do with sealed spells and jutsu, but not so oblivious as to not notice stepping into a puddle. She stopped and looked down at the pothole, thinking about how much trouble this could cause for a trader. Feeling nice she decided to perform a civil act and unlinked her arm from Naruto's and started digging a little off the road, catching everyone's attention. Kakashi wondered just what the girl, he should not like but still did, was doing "Kagome. What are you doing?" "Performing a civil act by repairing the road. Wouldn't want some poor random trader to lose a cart wheel to this would we?" She felt she had gathered a sufficient amount and pulled out her white scroll, unsealing her shovel. She scooped up the dirt and filled up the pot hole, and firmly used the shovel to pat it down till you could not tell it was a patch job. Kagome felt especially helpful at the moment and so called forth something you could loosely, extremely loosely, could call fire natured chakra and hardened the dirt patch till there was no way the patch was coming off. It was odd, even for Kagome, but everyone shrugged and moved on with the mission. They did not notice the muffled shouts and screeching from the patch job, much too absorbed for the moment in trying to reason out Kagome's reasoning. A futile effort Sesshomaru and anyone else from Kagome's dimension would assure them.

The shinobi and Tazuna soon gave up on the exhausting effort of reasoning out Kagome, but Tazuna seemed to slow down after a little while longer. He had already been going at the pace of a crippled snail to the shinobi, but now he was slower than a zombiefied crippled snail. Needless to say it was severely irritating, and the urge to wring his neck was cresting into a feverish peak. Kagome, surprisingly, was the first to snap and growl out "God Tazuna you are so slow. Who's in favor of speeding this up people?" A chorus of "Aye!" sounded forth from the shinobi portion of the travelers, ignoring Tazuna's protests that he was going fast enough. Sakura called out in a smart tactical move "Whoever's not going to carry him call out not it! Not it!" Sasuke and Naruto shouted at the same time followed very quickly by Kakashi "Not it!" Kagome gave them several very rude gestures, and let out a slew of curses that would have impressed Hidan of the Akatsuki, at finding herself forced into being the packmule.

The happy quartet took to the trees, joyful at being able to travel at a normal pace at last. Tazuna flinched at the blank look Kagome leveled him with; very afraid at how he was going to be carried. "I should have brought an empty scroll to seal you into Tazuna. Oh well live and learn. Unless you die in the process, then there's no learning except the last thought of 'Oh damn I should have done _that_ instead of _this_.'" Tazuna positively looked like bleached linen, now terrified of the five foot four girl in front of him. Kagome refocused on how to carry Tazuna. "Okay you pathetic drunken mistake of humanity, now here's how we're going to do it. I'm going to carry you bridal style and you will not say anything or do anything. You keep your mouth shut and your hands to yourself and I'll not curse you into being an old woman instead of an old man. Got it?" Tazuna frantically nodded and stayed perfectly silent and still as Kagome picked him up. She brought her chariot wheels to life and ascended at a rapid pace till she was easily above the tree line. The wheel's flame seemed to grow until they were undistinguishable from fireballs as Kagome poured energy into the wheels. Tazuna was terrified, like any person with two brain cells to rub together would be, at being so very high up going so very fast. Though her fellow shinobi were far ahead of her she easily caught up, her energy speeding her along at breakneck paces. She saw a flash of silver through one of the breaks between the trees and called out "Everyone! I'll take Tazuna ahead! Clear out the rabble you find okay?" Sakura and Sasuke thought she was talking about bandits, but Naruto and Kakashi knew better as everyone called out to the flying miko "Got it!" She handed Tazuna a pair of goggles as they hovered and pulled on her own, preparing to devote herself to being the transportation.

Tazuna looked blankly at the bright pink goggles, but pulled them on when he saw Kagome was pulling on hers. Kagome gathered all her ki and set a command for a singular purpose, to go as fast as possible. It was wasteful to use all her energy for speed, and it would take awhile for her to regain it all, but she wanted to go as speedily as possible in order to rid herself of Tazuna. Her wheels began to build up rotation speed as they hovered, making a whirring noise, and Tazuna began to cling to the only thing keeping him from falling. When the whirring began to make their ears hurt Kagome shot forwards, looking for all the world like a pink shooting star. Tazuna quietly fainted as he saw the landscape below him begin to blur, not noticing Kagome's grin at going so fast. Who said Sesshomaru had the sole right of having a speed addiction?

The shinobi in the tree tops just watched as she rocketed away with the sort of precious cargo, feeling like Kagome had pulled yet another trick out of her bottomless bag of surprises. Kakashi looked towards Naruto "Did you know she could do that?" Naruto rubbed the back of his neck nervously and gave a bit of a laugh. "She might have mentioned it one day. But it was in passing! She said it was impractical since it ate through her reserves like your eye does, and that you'd have to be blind and deaf not to notice the pinkness and the whirring." Kakashi agreed, his ears were still ringing, and turned to the other fascinated two. "Sakura. Sasuke. No loose lips got it?" They nodded, eyes burning with curiosity, and said "We hear you Kakashi-sensei." Now they just needed to catch up to the all too fast Kagome, now regretting that stuck Tazuna with Kagome.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve: Accidentally Pure

A/N: One word people, exams. And Kakashi has won the polls in a landside! Now let's see if Zabuza and/or Haku will surivive?

Now Momochi Zabuza was a practical and smart nukenin. He had to be in order to survive outside of the protection of Kiri and to avoid decapitation via oinin. Since he had been hired by the scum sucking slime known as Gato, he had been finally able to once more afford the standard medical supplies, kunai, and shuriken. It was good to be Momochi Zabuza for the moment, all he had to do was kill the target and the possible shinobi the target might have hired. The Demon Brothers might not have reported in yet, but it was not so late as to be questionable. Haku was in the trees somewhere, waiting in case he needed backup. The day was sunny and clear, perfect weather for just about anything and Zabuza was intent on enjoying it while there was still some peace and quiet.

He had almost started to nod off in peaceful slumber when a faint whirring teased his senses. It shook him from peaceful daydreams of ruling over Kiri into alertness, unsure what could be causing the noise. And the noise only got louder and louder until an army of genin could have snuck by without notice with such noise. Zabuza had absolutely no idea what could produce such a loud noise, nothing he had encountered ever had, but he had the feeling it was a hostile shinobi or kunoichi. He got out Kubikiribōchō in preparation of using his prized broadsword but what he saw nearly made him drop his beloved sword. Nearly.

A pink comet zoomed overhead, going at incredible speeds, and was gone in two blinks of an eye. Zabuza looked at the spot the comet had been two seconds ago, and felt the radiation of some sort of acidic chakra. It seemed to notice his probing chakra and latched onto him. It burned; burn was not descriptive enough to describe the sensation, burned his chakra and _ate at it_. Zabuza only avoided screaming by his iron will gained from surviving the Blood Purges of Kiri, and even then came close. Eventually the burning subsided enough for him to gather himself and take off for his hide out. "Zabuza just what the hell have you gotten yourself into _this_ time?" He asked himself. Though Zabuza did not know this, he had just experienced a watered down version of purification via energy radiation from Kagome's transportation methods not from any intentional effort on Kagome's part. Unfortunately for Zabuza, and any shinobi of any significance, their chakra systems were made up of a demonic energy. Therefore Kagome held the advantage over shinobi. There _was_ a reason why miko had not existed in this universe before.

Kagome, on the other pure hand, was humming a jaunty song. She was happy since she thought she could see Tazuna's house not too far off. The bridge builder was currently dead weight and she was eager to be rid of his cumbersome self. She even bobbed in time to the beat of her tune she was so happy. Tazuna, had he been awake, would have been very airsick by now with the bobbing. Kagome giggled, interrupting the tune, at how she would be able to get there before her team members and would be able to rub it in their faces. After all they had been unburdened by Tazuna while she had to carry the great lump of lard. They were so shamefully lazy! It only took her a few more minutes until Tazuna's house came into view, and Kagome cut the power to her chariot wheels when they were only a few feet above the ground. Politely she knocked on the door and was greeted by the surprised face of Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, and the sullen face of Tazuna's grandson, Inari. "Hello. My name is Arasoi Kagome and I am one of the shinobi that your father hired for his protection. I have your father right here." She pointed to the unconscious and twitching man in her arms. "My team will be arriving shortly, after checking for any bandits or hostile shinobi."

Tsunami blinked for a moment, before nodding with a smile and adding "And I'll bet they'll be hungry after a long journey!" Kagome grinned and nodded her head with a passion, making Tsunami laugh and Inari scowl. Tsunami welcomed her inside, where Kagome deposited Tazuna near the table at Tsunami's insistence, and started making dinner for hungry shinobi and kunoichi. After protesting a bit Tsunami even let Kagome help, much to Inari's visible ire. So she asked his mother just what was eating at the kid, making Tsunami sigh before giving her the story of Inari's adoptive father's death. Kagome had frowned, but Naruto had mentioned he had knocked the common sense back into the sullen child so she would leave it to the expert. The two ladies ended up making beef ramen, much to Kagome's amusement, and watched how Inari fought not to drool on himself.

The ramen simmered with a gut wrenching smell, and it caused Tazuna to wake from his fear induced coma. Tazuna came to with much grunting and moaning before voicing "Oh thank God it was just a nightmare!" Kagome grinned a grin the Cheshire Cat would kill for before saying in a saccharine voice "What was a nightmare Tazuna?" The old man paled before turning slowly to where the voice of the demon had originated. The she demon was cooking with his innocent and naïve daughter! "Tsunami! Get away from her! That is no mere girl, she's a demon!" Tsunami wacked her father on the head with her ladle. "Father! How could you say such things about our guest? This kunoichi carried you all the way here after you fainted!" Tazuna turned a lurid purple at the thought, steam blasting out of his ears, but did not dare to say a word with Tsunami so angry. She was the cook after all.

As for our merry quartet, they were searching for Zabuza at Kakashi's insistence. Not knowing that Kagome had unwittingly scared him off, it was a futile and irritating venture. Kakashi was fuming at Zabuza's inconsistency while Naruto was fuming at the boring nature of this mission so far. The two conversed for a bit, after sending off Sakura and Sasuke, and decided to rejoin with Kagome. The irritated four made their way to Tazuna's house and were greeted with the delicious smell of beef ramen, much to Naruto's delight and Kakashi's displeasure. Kagome opened the door with a vicious grin and asked snarkishly "Well what took you four so long? Were you picking flowers or something? Come in before the ramen gets cold!" The four, feeling scolded, took off their shoes and sat down at the table for the ramen. When they tasted it Naruto cried tears of joy and could be heard, between bites and slurps, saying "This is the nectar of the Gods!"


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen: Sexier

A/N: Really people? Do you not care what happens to Zabuza and Haku? Wave Arc isn't that long! Take your chance before it slips away! And as for why this took so long…I was hoping more people would vote… Plus the little bit at the end was inspired by 'Slytherins are Sexier'.

Naruto sighed to himself, as he leaned backwards from a kick Kagome sent to where his head was; really he should have seen this coming. The first time around Kakashi had been recovering from chakra exhaustion, but still had tortured his min-students with the stupid tree climbing exercise. This time he was hale and hearty, much to the genins' dismay, and quite eager to pass on his 'knowledge'. Naruto paid for thinking during fighting with an elbow to his solar plexus "Oof! Kagome! What was that for?" Naruto whined to his best friend, quasi sister, quasi love interest Kagome. She stuck out her tongue at the spacey blonde and replied quick as lightning "Quit your inner bitchy monolog Naruto! Just 'cause Kakashi is too lazy to spar with us on water, watching over Sasuke and Sakura my foot, doesn't mean I won't pound you into the ground!" Naruto gulped, Kagome could be vicious if she thought someone was not taking her seriously.

Kagome had had this problem manifest during her time with InuYasha, but growing up again with adults who were incapable of taking her seriously had compounded the problem. Naruto remembered the days of Kagome huddled over her little collapsible table cackling as she played with something explosive, after having to deal with those clueless adults. Of course at the time it was just another thing he labeled as 'Kagome's Quirks' since he had not been privy to the fact she was an adult in child form, but he knew differently now. Kagome fumed quietly to herself as Naruto ventured back into deep space. She thought to herself 'Sheesh he must be half way to Capella by now. Though that would be cool to see the star…' as she idly launched a vicious roundhouse kick at the astronaut pretending to be a shinobi. Naruto slammed face down into the water before rolling a bit and then sinking. He emerged a few seconds later, sputtering, and climbed back onto the surface with a fire burning in his eyes. "Oh you are going to pay for that Kagome, best friend or not!" Naruto closed his eyes and orange tattoos colored his eyelids, and when he opened his eyes they were yellow toad eyes. Kagome quickly formed her armor and unsheathed Renegade, taking a cheap swipe at Naruto in hopes of catching him off guard. Naruto smiled as she gave a curse when she dodged his Rasengan. Kagome snarled and closed in and shouted "Heavenly Wheel!" as she knocked Naruto into the air, alight with a malevolent energy, and quickly lashing out in three extremely fast three hundred and sixty degree rotations going clockwise twice and once counterclockwise. Naruto grunted as he felt his side split open with a splash of blood, and he sucked in air for his jutsu. This was going to be a very long, and _fun_, battle.

* * *

A ways off in the surrounding forest two tired genin and their amused jonin were doing their training. Sasuke and Sakura were running up and down tree trunks while Kakashi threw kunai and shuriken at them. Kakashi thought his variation of the standard 'Run up trees till you fall down' exercise was ingenious since it improved their dodging skills alongside their chakra reserves. Noting Sakura was slowing he flicked a shuriken at her, creating a thin red line of blood on her arm, as a reminder to not slow down. Sasuke smirked at the pinkette as he purposefully somersaulted downwards, barely managing to regain contact with the tree trunk, to show off. Sakura felt the pointed barb, which masqueraded as a smirk, jolt her heart. Her crush, her Sasuke-kun was _taunting_ her! Sakura was internally reeling from the rude awakening that little smirk caused. He didn't care Kakashi had just cruelly skimmed her with a deadly shuriken, she wailed internally. Sakura mindlessly kept running up and down as this little smirk started a landslide of more evidence she had ignored with a stubborn will. Sakura thought to herself with a frantic tone 'He never smiled at me. He always was harsh, cruel, and uncaring to me. I thought it was because he was shy, but what if it was because he's a jerk?' Sakura decided to give her obse-crush another shot, for surely it was all sound and fury. "Sasuke-kun after this-" "No." "But-" "No." "But I-!" "_No_." Sakura didn't care Kakashi would probably string her up for insubordination; she jumped down from her assigned tree and ran off into the forest sobbing loudly.

Kakashi watched the melodrama with an intrigued expression on his face; Sakura had not done this the first time around till Sasuke had left with Orochimaru. Kakashi hummed happily at the thought Fangirl Sakura might be gotten rid of so quickly this time around, but knowing his jonin duties turned to the confused Uchiha. Kakashi looked at his insensitive, revenge obsessed, Uchiha student and thought 'Oh what I would not give to have Sasuke switched with Itachi. Well not Naruto or Kagome, Minato-sensei, Rin and Obito… Hmm I guess there are some people I wouldn't give, but- No! Focus Kakashi!' "You know Sasuke you could have been a _little_ more sensitive to her feelings." Sasuke looked to the lazy man, who was in his opinion unfit to teach him and Kagome, and replied in a bored monotone "Why? It's not like I care for her. I simply took the chance of getting rid of one of my stalkers." Kakashi gained a sly look on his masked face, as he knew how to take down the Uchiha a few pegs for the Sakura Tsunade had taught. "That's too bad. Kagome will be so disappointed in you, after all you remind her of her friend Weasel-san a great deal, for being so insensitive. I remember her saying to me once just how suave and gentlemanly Weasel-san was." Sasuke both blanched and flushed, making him look like a ghost with a blush, at once more being compared to 'Weasel-san' and being found lacking. Kakashi smirked behind his mask; Sakura had had her vengeance even if she did not know it. He twitched as he heard Naruto howl in pain after Kagome snarled a curse. Apparently they had forgotten he had ordered 'light sparring only'. He spared no thought for the now brooding Uchiha and made his way to the water.

It was easy to find the two sparring partners, all one had to do was either follow their ears or the destruction caused by the warring titans. Kakashi found them panting on the light pink water, both of them quite beaten up. Naruto had sustained heavy damage from Kagome's weaponry along with purification burns. Kagome had gotten off somewhat lighter in the fact that she only had multiple shallow cuts from wind jutsu and shinobi equiptment. Kakashi fought the disturbing urge to ogle Kagome's form, since her outfit had been diced either by accident or on purpose by Naruto, and sighed "Can you two follow simply follow my orders for once?" Naruto snorted and said "I outrank you." Kagome smirked, titillating to the men, and said "I'm sexier than you." Naruto stared at Kagome just like Kakashi did. Naruto started shaking then burst out laughing as he saw Kagome was being completely serious. "Hahaha! She's right Kakashi! She _is_ sexier than you!" Kakashi pouted beneath his mask at his friend and little brother and said childishly "You're biased Naruto. You can't think I'm sexier since Kagome would purify you to Hell and back." Naruto shook his head and just laughed, while Kagome arrogantly flipped her hair as she had seen Sesshomaru do. You could say whatever you liked about Sesshomaru, but the man had _style_.


End file.
